


Madeline's Story: The Gorgon's Curse

by pigeonking



Category: Original Work
Genre: Monsters, Multi, Necromancy, Vampires, Werewolves, Zombies, gorgons, merfolk
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-25
Updated: 2019-07-16
Packaged: 2019-08-07 09:37:13
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 31
Words: 44,003
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16405925
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pigeonking/pseuds/pigeonking
Summary: This is an original work with original characters that I thought I might share here if anyone is interested in checking it out.Monster Girls is just a working title at the moment and may change later.Even though it isn't based on any existing fandom, I hope that anyone that gives it a chance will enjoy it.





	1. One

Madeline Konstantinos was running for her life. She had to get away, otherwise her father’s sacrifice would be for nothing.

Branches like skeletal fingertips pulled and scratched at her as she ran through the forest that she had once called home. It had been a safe-haven for her and her father ever since they had come to America from Greece when Madeline was just a baby. That had been eighteen years ago, but now the danger that they had fled had finally caught up with them. Had claimed the life of her father just as it had claimed her mother.

Even in the blind panic of flight and at night, Madeline knew this forest like the back of her hand. She knew that if she kept on running as fast as she could in an easterly direction she would soon come to the main highway. From there she hoped that she would be able to hitch a ride to the city.

All her life Madeline had lived in isolation in the cabin, with her father. It was safer that way. She had never been to the city, not even to go to school. Her father had home schooled her and taught her all that she knew. Now she had no choice, but to go to the city. She had been told by her father that if the worst should ever happen then she should flee to the city and seek out a friend of his named Veronique Bouton. Madeline repeated that name in her head like a mantra as she ran. There was just one problem. Her father had never given her an address. He had just told her that Veronique lived in a mansion on Staten Island in New York City. The only other thing that Madeline knew was that the mansion was near the water, overlooking the bay. She armed herself with this information, hoping it would help her find Veronique once she reached the city, but first she needed to get there.

Madeline clambered up the slope, knowing that once she breached the trees at the top she would be on the open road. Interstate 87, she knew, would take her to Staten Island. She just needed a ride.

 

Gregory Barton was driving home from a successful day of hunting. He had the carcasses of three deer in the back of his truck and when he got home he was planning on skinning them and carving them up into some nice, sweet venison steaks. His mouth was watering already just at the thought of frying one of them up tonight for a late supper. It would go down nicely with a couple of bottles of his home brew.

He was driving along the I-87 through the Green Mountain National Forest, trees lining the road at either side, when the girl suddenly ran out into the road ahead of him and held up her hands in the vain hope that he would stop for her.

“Crazy bitch!” Gregory cursed as he slammed his foot down on the brake.

The truck screeched to a halt with just three feet separating the front bumper and the young girl that stood before it.

Gregory wound down his window and stuck his head out.

“What the Hell do ya think you’re doin’?” he yelled, “Are ya tryin’ to get yerself killed?”

The girl was dressed in a dark grey hoodie with a _Slipknot_ logo emblazoned in red over her left breast, the hood drawn up to cover her head and most of her face, though Gregory could see that her eyes were covered by dark sunglasses. She was a pretty little thing so far as he could tell, and her figure curved in all the right places, even in a hoodie and jeans.

“I’m awful sorry, sir.” She spoke quietly, “I was hoping that you might be kind enough to give me a ride?”

 _Oh, I’ll give you a ride, alright._ Gregory thought to himself with a lascivious smile.

“Where are ya headed?” he asked out loud.

“I need to get to Staten Island, but I know that’s a big ask.” The girl answered. “If you could just take me as far as you can go then I’d be ever so grateful. I have a little money to pay for gas if need be?”

“That won’t be necessary.” Gregory assured her, and he popped open his passenger door. “Get in, I can take ya a little of the way there, but after that you’ll have to find your own way.”

The girl managed a smile and ran around to the passenger side. She climbed in and closed the door, strapping on a seatbelt.

“Thank you so much, you’re very kind.” She said.

“Think nothing of it.” Gregory waved her thanks aside as he started driving again.

 _Besides,_ he thought, _you ain’t gonna be riding for free._

 

Madeline allowed herself to relax as the truck pulled away. The kind man was smiling as he drove.

It was difficult for Madeline to smile right now when all she really wanted to do was curl up into a corner and cry. Her whole life was changing faster than she knew how to keep up with. Dad was dead. Someone wanted her dead and her only safe-haven was in the city that she had avoided all of her life, with some stranger whom she had never even met. Even this man beside her was a stranger, but at least she could try to make an effort to get to know him. It was the least she could do to repay his kindness.

“My name is Madeline by the way.” She said, forcing herself to smile again. “But you can call me Maddy.”

“Gregory.” The man answered, and he offered her his hand which she shook.

“I really do appreciate you putting yourself out for me like this.” Maddy continued. “If you need any money for gas then I have about a hundred dollars on me, if that will help?”

“Don’t ya worry your pretty little head about that. I’m sure we can come to some sort of arrangement.” Gregory assured her, glancing at her in his peripheral vision as he drove. She really was a cute one, even with the weird glasses and the hood.

Maddy squirmed a little uncomfortably in her seat. It didn’t sit right with her that Gregory would not accept her money, but he had mentioned an arrangement of some sort, so perhaps she would still be able to pay back his kindness somehow.

They drove on for a little while in silence until Gregory made a turn off down a side road. Maddy was unfamiliar with the route to Staten Island, having never been there, so she was sure that Gregory must know where he was going. It was only when Gregory brought the truck to a halt at the side of the road that she began to suspect that something was wrong. The area they were parked in was surrounded by trees and away from the main road. It probably wouldn’t see much traffic at this time of night, if at all.

“Why are we stopping?” Maddy wondered nervously.

Gregory had unclipped his seatbelt and turned on the interior light. He turned towards her with a lecherous grin upon his bearded face.

“I thought we might take some time to negotiate that little arrangement that I was talkin’ about.” He said to her.

“Sure.” Maddy stammered, “What did you have in mind? Like I said, I have a hundred bucks on me. How much do you think would be fair to compensate you for all your trouble?”

Gregory chuckled and shook his head. Maddy didn’t like how it sounded.

“I’m-a gonna take your money anyway, darlin’.” He told her, “I was thinkin’ about somethin’ other than money.”

“Oh?” Maddy replied, “What’s that?”

Gregory leaned in closer to her, his face just inches from hers, and Maddy shrank back away from him as far as the interior of the truck would allow. The smell of his sweat was palpable enough that she almost gagged.

“I was thinkin’ we’d start with a little kiss and see where things go from there.” He sneered.

Gregory puckered his lips and loomed in closer.

Maddy shoved him back as hard as she could.

“Get off me!” she yelled. “I’m not going to do that!”

Gregory’s leer was unwavering.

“I’d like to see ya stop me!”

He grabbed her by the arms, pinning them to her sides, and pulled her towards him.

Maddy squirmed and struggled violently in his grip. She threw back her head in an effort to evade his wet lips and in doing so she dislodged her hood.

The tangle of snakes in her head hissed and writhed angrily and turned their yellow eyes upon Gregory.

Gregory flung her away from him, this time he was the one retreating in his seat.

“What the fuck are you?”

Maddy was crying, the tears that had been wanting to spill since the moment she had seen her father murdered in front of her, but she had dared not let fall, were finally allowed a release as she pulled her sunglasses from her face to reveal her own yellow eyes.

“I’m so sorry, Gregory, but you don’t leave me any choice.” She lamented.

Gregory looked at his hand in horror as he felt himself becoming petrified from the inside out, his skin fading to a mottled grey as if he was being slowly turned into an actor in one of those old black and white movies. He tried to move, but his joints were rapidly stiffening and solidifying. Gregory had time to scream once before he became stone completely, his wide-open mouth now stuck in its grotesque gargoyle’s grimace forever.

“I’m so sorry.” Maddy wept and even she didn’t know in that moment if the words were meant for Gregory or her father. If only she had been able to use her curse to save his life, then she may never have been in this terrible situation to begin with and this man wouldn’t have died.

Maddy remained sat in the passenger seat for quite some time, her legs drawn up to her chest, glasses still clutched in one hand as her snakes soothingly tried to lick the tears away as they coursed down her cheeks.

The gentle caress of their forked tongues on her skin tickled and Maddy found herself begin to smile a little despite all of the grief that still threatened to tear her apart from within.

“You’re right.” She said to them, sniffing snot back into her nose, “I can’t just sit here feeling sorry for myself. I’ve gotta get myself to Staten Island and find this Veronique.”

The snakes writhed and danced with approval as Maddy dried her eyes and cleaned herself up with a tissue from Gregory’s glove compartment.

She got out of the truck and walked around to the driver side, opening the door and standing aside to allow Gregory’s petrified corpse to tumble out into the dirt with a heavy thud.

Maddy tried to drag his statue into the nearby trees, but Gregory had been a heavy looking guy even before he’d been turned to stone, and Maddy had to stop to rest several times before she was finally satisfied that her would be attacker was not going to be seen by anyone that casually drove by on this road. With a few more tissues from the glove compartment Maddy then took the time to wipe off anywhere on the statue that she might have left fingerprints. She may have lived in a cabin in the woods all her life, but they’d still been able to get cable TV; she’d seen enough crime dramas to know that you had to leave nothing behind after you’d killed someone.

After she had done that Maddy took a look in the back of Gregory’s truck and saw the three dead deer. Her internal well of sadness got a little fuller as she dragged the animal carcasses out of the back of the truck and hid them in the forest too. She would have liked to have given them a decent burial, there was a shovel in the back of Gregory’s truck, only the gods knew what he used that for, but she had already taken too much time hiding Gregory’s body and she didn’t want to risk being found by the one who hunted her.

Her final act was to walk backwards out of the woods, brushing away any footprints she had left as she went with a tree branch which she then tossed back into the trees once she had reached the road once more.

Maddy got into the driver’s side of Gregory’s truck, fortunately he had left the keys in the ignition and Maddy’s father had taught her to drive in his own truck when she was sixteen. She closed the door and put on her seat belt.

“I’m sorry, guys, but I’m gonna have to put you all away again for a while, okay?” she said with genuine regret.

Her snakes hissed with understanding and allowed themselves to be covered once more by the hood.

Maddy then put back on the sunglasses.

She started the engine, turned the truck around and headed back to the main road to continue her journey to Staten Island.  


	2. Two

Maddy had first heard Veronique’s name spoken on the day of her tenth birthday. Dad had just brought in the cake, a misshapen home baked chocolate sponge with raspberry jam filling and brilliant blue butter cream frosting. The same cake he baked for her every birthday and some other special occasions because he knew that it was her favourite. Even through the dim light afforded by the filters of her sunglasses Maddy marvelled at the brilliant glow of all ten candles as they flickered in the darkened dining room. The snakes on her head also writhed with excitement.

“I don’t know what they’re getting so excited about.” Maddy giggled. “It’s not like they’re gonna get any of it.”

“Happy Birthday to you!” her father sang with out of tune enthusiasm, sounding something like Barney the Dinosaur with a ten pack a day smoking habit, “Happy Birthday to you! Happy birthday, dear Madeline! Happy Birthday to you!”

That was Maddy’s cue to close her eyes and blow out the candles. She took a deep breath and thought about her wish, then she exhaled and extinguished all ten candles in a single gust.

“What did you wish for?” her dad asked as he turned the lights back on.

Maddy looked up at her father and smiled sadly, despite the happy occasion.

“You know what I wished for… what I always wish for.” A stray tear tracked its way down her cheek. “I wish I didn’t have to wear these stupid glasses all the time.” More tears over flowed and her snakes licked and caressed them away.

Maddy giggled. “Stop that! You know it tickles!”

Her dad knelt beside her and hugged her, kissing her cheek.

“I would love that too.” He said, “To be able to look into my beautiful daughter’s eyes every day and tell her how much I love her. What proud father wouldn’t want that? But what would you say if I told you that one day you might not have to wear those sunglasses ever again?”

Maddy turned in her seat to look at her father, her eyes widening in wonder beneath her glasses at the mere thought of such an impossible dream.

“You really think it could happen one day, daddy?” she asked, “But how?”

“I have a friend that lives in the city, on Staten Island. Her name is Veronique Bouton. She is different, just like you are…”

“You mean, she’s a gorgon, just like me?” Maddy gasped.

“No, not a gorgon, Veronique is something entirely different, but she’s a good person and she has dedicated her life to helping others like herself and like you. She’s also a scientist and she has promised me that she will make you some contact lenses which you can wear that will enable you to walk around freely, without your sunglasses and without having to ever worry about turning anybody to stone.” Her father explained.

Maddy’s smile broadened and in that moment her father thought that she had never looked more beautiful.

“That would be wonderful!” she enthused, “How soon do you think she’d be able to make something like that?”

“It’ll probably take a while. She’ll need to make sure that she has the perfect type of lens that will not only cancel out the effects of your curse, but also be comfortable for you to wear and see through.” Her father told her, “I promise you though that when she does finish them you’ll be the second person that knows about it.”

“Second person?” Maddy’s brow furrowed in puzzlement, “Why can’t I be the first, daddy?”

“Well, Veronique will have to tell me before I can tell you, won’t she?” her father laughed, and he tickled her.

Maddy giggled, the tears from before all forgotten, and the snakes on her head danced happily.

“Now, who wants a slice of birthday cake?”


	3. Three

The drive to Staten Island took a little over four hours and it was gone midnight by the time Maddy reached there. She had stopped only once for gas at a filling station that she had passed along the way. The entire time she had been there had been extremely nerve wracking for her and she had felt her snakes squirming beneath the hood in sympathy to her anxious state as the forecourt attendant looked her up and down suspiciously as he’d served her.

Fortunately, he had not said anything, and after paying Maddy left the station without incident.

Now that she had reached her destination Maddy was unsure where to go next. She knew that Veronique lived in a mansion overlooking the bay, but this being Staten _Island_ there was an awful lot of bay to be overlooked and a lot of places where a mansion could overlook it.

Maddy drove around the outer edges of the island looking for any clue that might lead her in the right direction, but that was easier said than done at this time of night. She drove passed an awful lot of warehouses and docking yards, but there were very few residential abodes and even when she did see them there was no way of telling if any of them might belong to Veronique. Should she just go door to door, knocking on each one until she found the right one?

Or maybe she could just try asking someone?

There was a small community of vagrants camped around a burning barrel under a bridge and Maddy decided that she might try to ask them if they knew of Veronique. Perhaps she was well known in the neighbourhood?

Maddy knew in her head that it would make a lot more sense and would probably be a lot safer to ask a cop than these vagrants, but considering the fact that she was driving around in a truck that she had technically stolen from a guy whom she had turned to stone, she felt that it was wiser to steer clear of any law enforcement representatives, at least for now. Never mind that Gregory had been a douche asshole who had tried to rape her.

She parked up the truck over on the other side of the road and got out, crossing over to go and talk to the men that were huddled for warmth around the blazing barrel. It was indeed a chilly night and Maddy hugged her arms across her chest as she approached them.

The men eyed her wearily as she approached, wondering who this strange young girl was who concealed her features under a hood and behind dark glasses. A few of them looked at her with something more than suspicion as they noted that her figure was still appealing despite the jeans and hoodie.

“Excuse me, sirs, I’m wondering if you can help me?” Maddy asked as she drew nearer, the heat from the fire was very appealing and Maddy offered the men a smile in an effort to win them over.

“What’s a young girl like you doing out at this time of night?” one of the men, a stocky, bald guy with a scraggly greying beard, asked her.

Maddy looked around at the assembled vagrants and noted that they were all bearded to some extent or another and fancied that the length and unkemptness of each beard possibly denoted how long each of them had been on the streets for.

“I’m a little lost.” Maddy confessed, “I’m looking for the home of someone called Veronique Bouton. I don’t suppose that you’d know who that is?”

“Any reason that we should?” Another man wondered.

“No, I guess not,” Maddy frowned uncertainly, “But I’d be willing to pay for any information you can give me. I have a little money.”

“How much is a little?” the first man asked, his interest piqued.

“Well, I had to buy gas on the way here, but I have about thirteen dollars left… it’s not much, I know, but…”

The men around her all laughed.

“Thirteen dollars ain’t much to split between nine hungry fellas like us!” the first man chuckled derisively.

“I’m sorry, but it’s all I have.” Maddy stammered apologetically, she started to back away with the intent of returning to the truck and driving away. Her snakes were hissing warnings at her beneath the hood. “If you can’t help me then I’ll just have to keep looking on my own.”

She turned around and found that a couple of the men had gotten behind her to block off her retreat.

“Not so fast, little girl.” The first man said behind her. “There are other ways you can pay.”

Maddy rolled her eyes beneath her sunglasses. Twice in one night? She really didn’t want to turn all of these guys to stone if she could avoid it.

“Please!” she implored them, “You don’t want to do this.”

“Come on, Marty. Leave her alone.” An older man spoke up at the back. “She reminds me a little of my granddaughter.”

“Perhaps you should listen to him.” Maddy suggested hopefully, turning in a slow circle as she looked around at all of the men closing in on her.

Before she could say any more she felt a sharp pain on the back of her head and worried that one or more of her snakes may have been hurt as she fell to her knees.

“Or perhaps I won’t.” Marty sneered and then hit her again with the plank of wood in his hand.

Maddy went facedown into the asphalt, white stars dancing in front of her eyes as she felt the men closing in around her.

Then a new sound entered the fray, a deep throaty growl from some kind of animal.

“A wolf!” one man yelped in fear.

All around Maddy there was chaos. Growling and snarling from the wolf that elicited cries of terror from the vagrants as they fled.

With a supreme effort, Maddy managed to roll onto her back in time to see the vagrants disappear into the darkness with a large chocolate brown she-wolf hot on their heels.

Her head was still throbbing from being hit and she felt that she was losing her grip on consciousness.

The last thing that she saw was a tall, naked African-American woman with no hair, looming over her and then darkness.  


	4. Four

A happier time. It was pizza night. Once a month Maddy’s dad would always treat her to a pizza ordered in from the nearest restaurant that was willing to deliver to their remote cabin. It was something that Maddy looked forward to without fail every month.

Her father used the same pizza service every month and had insisted upon the same delivery boy. If that boy wasn’t available on pizza night for any reason, Maddy’s father had instructed that the restaurant should inform him in advance so that he would know to expect someone different. Such were the precautions he felt he had to take to keep Maddy safe and ensure as few people as possible were aware of their remote cabin home.

For all intents and purposes this should have been a normal pizza night, just like any other before it.

Maddy’s dad had ordered the pizza; her usual favourite of olives and anchovies with a bucket of cookie dough ice cream for dessert.

They were sitting in front of the TV watching reruns of _Sabrina the Teenage Witch_ as they waited for the pizza to come.

“I swear we must have seen these episodes a dozen times already!” her father teased, “I bet you only watch it because you’ve got a crush on the kid who plays Harvey.”

Maddy punched her dad on the arm playfully and giggled.

“I do not!” she protested, “Anyway, who says it’s not Sabrina I have a crush on?” Maddy smiled mischievously and her eyes twinkled beneath her dark glasses.

“I wouldn’t blame you, Melissa Joan Hart is pretty cute.” Her dad conceded with a chuckle.

“Daddy, you’re old enough to be her father!” Maddy exclaimed with feigned mortification, well aware that Melissa Joan Hart was now in her forties and old enough to be her mother.

“What can I say?” her dad played along, “I like ‘em young!”

“Ew! Gross!” Maddy laughed.

They were interrupted by the sound of a motorbike pulling up outside.

“Sounds like the pizza’s here.” Maddy’s dad got up and crossed to the window to look outside, whilst Maddy pulled up her hood to hide her snakes.

The snakes gave a hiss of protest at having to be covered up; they liked _Sabrina_ too.

“Something’s wrong.” Maddy’s father frowned as he looked through the curtain. “That’s not our usual delivery boy.”

“What do you mean?” Maddy asked, “Maybe the restaurant just forgot to tell us?”

“They never have before.” Her father answered, “Get to the backdoor. If you hear anything out of the ordinary I want you to run and make your way to Veronique Bouton.”

“But you’ve never told me her address!” Maddy protested.

“I don’t have time for that now, just go… it may not come to that, but if it does you will find her… now go!”

Maddy didn’t want to leave, but she knew when her dad got this serious there was no arguing with him. She made her way reluctantly to the kitchen and stood by the backdoor to listen.

Maddy’s dad went into a drawer by the front door and pulled out a gun.

Holding the weapon to his side and slightly behind his back he took a deep breath and opened the door.

The figure standing on the porch was clad in black motorcycle leathers and wore a black helmet with a mirrored visor that covered their entire face. Perfect defence for someone that was planning to take on a gorgon, Maddy’s father thought grimly. They held a pizza box before them in both hands, though there was something odd and suspicious about the way that they were holding it; as if they were trying to conceal something under the box that was in their other hand. Like a gun.

Maddy’s father brought up his own gun, pointing it in the face of the helmeted stranger. If he was wrong about this then he could apologise later.

“Drop everything that you’re holding and put your hands behind your head.” He instructed.

Three shots rang out in quick succession tearing holes in the pizza box and ploughing into Maddy’s father’s chest and abdomen.

Blood bloomed from the holes in his body and his own gun slid, unfired, from slackening fingers as he sank to his knees, eyes staring sightlessly ahead at his killer. He was dead before he hit the ground.

“Daddy!” Maddy screamed. She couldn’t see what had happened, but she had heard the gunshots. Her father’s instructions echoed within her panicked and distressed mind and she yanked open the backdoor and ran for her life into the woods. One way or another she had to find Veronique Bouton.


	5. Five

Maddy awoke with a start, tears staining her cheeks and calling for her father. It took her a moment to realise that she was lying on a large comfortable, yet unfamiliar bed in a room that she had never seen before. The curtains were drawn, but she could tell that the sun had risen outside. Maddy saw that her sunglasses were folded upon the bedside dresser and she quickly took them up and put them on.

Just in time as the door to the room opened and the bald African-American woman from before rushed in with a look of concern etched upon her beautiful ebony features. At least she was wearing clothes this time; a white tank top that showed off her dark shoulders and tightly hugged her generous breasts, and a skin-tight pair of faded blue jeans that were torn around the knees. Maddy also noted, with a blush of embarrassment that the lady didn’t appear to have on a bra beneath the tank top as the firm points of her nipples were clearly pressing against the flimsy material. Maddy’s snakes squirmed upon her head uneasily, not sure what to make of this stranger.

The woman sat down on the bed next to Maddy and opened her arms to embrace her. She looked at the snakes and smiled, Maddy thought it was one of the most amazing, dazzling smiles that she had ever seen, her teeth were so white in contrast to her dark skin. “May I?” the woman asked, and she was addressing the snakes as much as she was Maddy.

“It’s okay, they won’t bite.” Maddy found herself smiling back, even through the tears that continued to course down her face.

The woman wrapped her arms around Maddy and pulled her in for a hug, all the while the snakes watched her, but did not otherwise act. Maddy collapsed into the embrace and enfolded her own arms around the stranger, allowing her tears to spill freely and soak into the material of the lady’s tank top.

The snakes relaxed.

“There, there, my little one.” The woman soothed, “I can’t imagine what you have been through, but you’re safe now.” With one hand she patted Maddy’s back and with the other she caressed the snakes in her head, which was met by gentle hissing akin to the purring of a cat.

Maddy allowed herself to be comforted and consoled by this stranger for a while, but eventually the questions that swam around in her subconscious could not stay unasked for much longer.   

“Where am I?” she asked, pulling away slightly, “Are you Veronique?”

The woman also pulled away keeping one comforting arm around Maddy’s shoulders.

“I am not Veronique, but I am a friend of hers and this is her house that we are in.” the woman answered, “My name is Wanda Wilson.”

“Madeline Konstantinos.” Maddy returned, “Is my name, that is…” she blushed, “but you can call me Maddy.”

“Yes, I know who you are.” Wanda smiled, “Veronique and I are good friends with your father and we have been looking forward to meeting you.”

Maddy had managed a smile back, it was difficult not to when faced with someone with a smile as wonderful as Wanda’s, but the mention of her father caused it to waver and tears welled in her eyes once more.

“My father was murdered last night.” She declared softly.

Wanda’s heart sank though she had expected the news. She once again encircled Maddy in her arms and held her whilst she succumbed to her grief once more. For some reason Maddy felt safe in this woman’s arms and in this house. Whilst she was here she trusted that no one and nothing could harm her.

Wanda spoke softly into her ear as she wept.

“When you are ready I will take you to meet Veronique.” She said, “Like I said before, she has been dying to meet you.”

Maddy nodded and pulled away from Wanda.

“Thank you, Wanda. For finding me and saving me and for bringing me where I needed to be.” She managed to say. “Before we go, can I ask you one last question?”

“What is it, little Maddy?” Wanda beamed.

“Are you a werewolf?”

Wanda laughed.


	6. Six

Maddy exited her new room with Wanda and allowed herself to be led by the hand down the red carpeted hallway. At varying intervals along the walls there were hung some very old looking paintings, which from the brush strokes apparent in each one, appeared to be genuine. Maddy marvelled at these works of art as she followed Wanda.

They came to a double staircase. Both sets of stairs descended into the same hallway, except one came down from the left wing of the house and the other from the right. Maddy made her way down the right-hand stairway and from that she deduced that, assuming the house faced north, her room was in the east wing of the house. A fabulous silver and crystal chandelier hung over the centre of the reception hallway. This was a very far cry indeed from the cabin that she had shared with her father for the first eighteen years of her life. However, as grand as this all was, she would sooner be back at home with her father alive and well, than here surrounded by all this wealth and luxury.

Wanda was doing her best to answer Maddy’s questions about what it was like being a werewolf.

“The full moon does indeed have a little something to do with our transformation cycles.” She was saying, “But it is only new wolves that are forced to change on a full moon. If you are strong of will and really work at it then most werewolves become able to transform whenever they like, or they can choose not to transform.”

“You mean you never have to become a wolf at all if you don’t want to?” Maddy asked.

“No, I did not say that.” Wanda replied patiently. “You do have to transform, a full-bodied transformation at least once a month. If you try to resist it then it can be very painful and terrible for you. Come the full moon, if you have not undergone a transformation already that month then you must change whether you want to or not and if you try to resist even then the transformation can overtake you by force in such a violent and agonising way that it would drive you mad. Werewolves forced to change that way are very dangerous and have a terrible insane bloodlust. I know… I learned this lesson the hard way for I was not always comfortable with what I am, as I have become now. And it is all thanks to Veronique, it is because of her that I am the werewolf I am today.”

“She sounds like a wonderful lady.” Maddy said.

“She is.”

Wanda took Maddy into what appeared to be a rather spacious kitchen where two women sat eating breakfast. Both women were sat across from each other and were wearing black. One was blonde and was wearing shorts and a T-shirt, fishnet stockings covered her legs under the shorts and she had calf-high studded boots on her feet. Her hair was tied back into a ponytail that rested over one shoulder as she tucked into a bacon and egg sandwich.

The other had long black hair and was wearing a long-sleeved sweater with black jeans and trainers. She was eating a rather bloody looking raw steak.

Both were very pale.

The sight of the blonde woman eating the sandwich reminded Maddy of how hungry she felt, after all, she had not gotten to eat the pizza last night. She immediately felt a pang of sadness on top of the hunger at the reminder of the previous night’s tragic events. However, if the blonde woman made her hungry then the dark-haired woman had the opposite effect. The sight of her biting into the bloody raw steak, red juices dribbling down her otherwise dainty chin, was rather nauseating.

Maddy’s first thought was that this woman was a vampire, but the sunlight streaming through the window, bathing both figures in its radiance, made her doubt this suspicion. Then again, maybe real vampires weren’t affected by the sun in the way that movies said that they were?

Maddy realised that she was staring and forced herself to look away politely. Her snakes, however, showed no such consideration and continued to gawp in open-mouthed wonder.

The two women seemed to notice Maddy and Wanda standing there for the first time, but neither seemed overly surprised to see a young girl with snakes-for-hair and dark sunglasses.

“So, you must be Maddy, the gorgon.” The blonde woman said with a smile, her voice carried an accent that wouldn’t have sounded out of place in a James Bond movie, like the Russian spy who tries ineffectually to seduce Bond into defecting, “You are a lot prettier than I had anticipated.”

“Pretty?” the other woman said, she at least _sounded_ American, “She’s freakin’ gorgeous!”

“A gorgeous gorgon!” the blonde chuckled, “I like that.”

“Is there anybody here that doesn’t already know who I am?” Maddy exclaimed incredulously.

“Nuh-uh. I’m afraid not, darlin’.” The dark-haired woman replied apologetically, “Veronique has been so excited about meeting you one day that she’s barely shut up about it.”

“She’s never seen a gorgon before.” The blonde woman agreed.

“So, neither of you is Veronique?” Maddy asked.

Wanda squeezed Maddy’s hand, which did not go unnoticed by the two other women, who shared a knowing glance.

“Forgive, me, little Maddy.” Wanda said, “Allow me to introduce you to Natasha Gilyov and Zoe Davies.” She indicated the blonde and the dark-haired woman respectively.

“Pleased to meet you both.” Maddy nodded her head politely and her snakes nodded with her.

“Natasha is a necromancer and Zoe is a zombie.” Wanda explained.

“That’s why I have to eat bloody meat.” Zoe smiled at Maddy, her chin and upper lip still caked in dried blood, making the gesture creepier than it was intended to be. “If I don’t I’ll start to rot and all my limbs will drop off one by one.”

“You already lost an arm once and we had to sew it back on.” Natasha chuckled, “That’s why she tends to favour the long sleeves.”

“Shut up, Natasha, she didn’t need to know that!” Zoe chastised, but there was no real anger behind it.

“I’m sorry,” Maddy interrupted, “but if you’re a zombie and she’s a necromancer, does that mean that you’re Natasha’s slave?”

“Only in the bedroom.” Natasha smirked with a wink.

Zoe actually managed to blush a little. “Would you stop!” she threw a morsel of bloody meat at Natasha and it bounced off her chest, leaving a little dark stain where it had landed.

“Seriously though, no, Zoe isn’t my slave.” Natasha replied, her smile unwavering, “My magic does animate Zoe, but her mind is her own.”

“Yeah, Natasha would never abuse her power like that. It’s why she fled Russia in the first place.” Zoe concurred.

“I will only ever use my power for the good of others.” Natasha said and now her smile did disappear, “If I had stayed in Russia and they had discovered what I was then I know that they would have forced me to do terrible things.”

Zoe got up from her chair and went to stand behind Natasha, wrapping her arms around her and hugging her. Natasha rubbed Zoe’s arms appreciatively and her smile returned gradually.

Wanda turned to look at Maddy.

“I brought you here because I thought that you might be hungry. Can I interest you in some breakfast before we go on to meet Veronique?”

The growling returned to Maddy’s stomach and now not even Zoe’s gory smile could quiet it.

“Yes please!” Maddy replied.


	7. Seven

Maddy continued to follow Wanda through the spacious wonder that was Veronique’s mansion, only this time she was hungrily devouring the bacon and sausage sandwich that the werewolf had prepared for her. Even so, she still found time to gawp at her surroundings; silk drapes on the windows, more authentic pieces of artwork, including some sculptures as well as paintings. One of these was a tasteful nude of someone that Maddy found she recognised.

“Wanda, is that you?” Maddy exclaimed with a mouth half full of bacon and bread.

Wanda had been walking a little ahead and had to retrace her steps to join Maddy where she had paused to stare at the exquisite portrait where it hung over an ornate fireplace.

In the painting, the powerful and beautiful face staring out from the canvas was undeniably Wanda’s, despite the fact that it was framed by long tresses of curly black and gold hair that draped passed the shoulders to cover the nipples of her otherwise exposed breasts. Her eyes had been painted a blazing amber colour and looked more wolf than human, but there was no denying the animalistic sensual beauty of the portrait’s subject.

 Maddy couldn’t help but stare at the image open-mouthed, her sandwich momentarily forgotten, and even her snakes were all stood to attention as they gazed in apparent admiration.

Where before Maddy had been feeling hungry, now, looking at this picture of Wanda in all her naked glory, she felt something else stirring within her which she wasn’t sure that she’d ever felt before. A kind of warmth that stirred between her legs and sent tingles of electricity up her body. She realised with embarrassment that she was breathing a little heavily and she blushed.

“Wow.” She managed to say, her voice barely above a whisper, “You look so beautiful, and you had hair!”

Wanda smiled and Maddy noticed that there was a reddish tint to her ebony complexion.

“I prefer to keep my head shaved, but occasionally I will wear wigs when I feel like it.” She explained, “Perhaps later on I will show some of them to you. I assume that when you need to you conceal your snakes beneath that hood that you wear, but maybe we can find you a wig that could serve as an alternative disguise for them?”

“I’d never thought of doing that before.” Maddy replied with a shy smile, “I’d like that.”

“Veronique is the one who painted me like this. Art is another of her passions, as well as science. A lot of the work you have seen here was created by her. Even Natasha and Zoe have their own portraits, but they keep theirs in their bedroom.”

“Cool,” Maddy said, “do you think she’ll paint me sometime?”

“I don’t doubt it.” Wanda smiled. She took Maddy by the hand and once again Maddy was surprised by the sudden tingling jolt of electricity that went through her that caused her snakes to writhe with pleasure. Gods, was she developing a crush on Wanda?

“Come,” Wanda said, “Veronique’s lab is this way.”

They had barely walked three paces when something else distracted Maddy.

This time they were walking by a window that looked out onto the grounds of Veronique’s considerable estate. Maddy noted that there was an outdoor pool. This fact did not surprise her.

That there appeared to be a freaking mermaid swimming in it did, however.

“You’ve got to be freaking kidding me!” Maddy exclaimed.

Once more Wanda found herself drawn back by her young charge’s curiosity, but this time she was amused rather than embarrassed.

“I see you’ve laid eyes upon Veronique’s other permanent guest.” She noted with a wry smile.

“How many different types of creature does she have living here under one roof?” Maddy had to ask, her eyes never leaving the mermaid as her naked form twisted and undulated beneath the waters of the pool.

“I can promise you that this will be the last surprise to greet you before we meet Veronique.” Wanda assured her. “Would you like to go and say hello to her?”

For the first time since spotting the mermaid Maddy turned her gaze upon Wanda and smiled.

“Yes please.”

 

If the inside of Veronique’s mansion was a wonder then the outside was gorgeous. The exterior looked a little like the house from _The Addams Family_ , but the vibrant magnolia brick work and charcoal tiles of the rooves and turrets gave it a warm and inviting homely feel that belied this spooky image. Maddy and Wanda traversed a gravel pathway on their way to the pool that took them through a colourful garden filled with a stark variety of flowers that Maddy couldn’t even begin to put names to. Bees and butterflies flitted among these blooms as if they owned the place and just seemed to compliment the idyllic utopian vibe that radiated Veronique’s entire estate. 

There was even a forest visible beyond the pool area that appeared to be part and parcel of the grounds as well.

“I will often run and hunt in those woods when I become a wolf.” Wanda confided in Maddy when she noted the young gorgon staring at the vast green expanse.

“That must be amazing.” Maddy proclaimed in awe, “So there are things living in there that you can hunt?”

“Mainly deer and rabbits, but yes.” Wanda replied.

“Cool.” Maddy declared. Then her attention was drawn back to the pool.

As they drew nearer the mermaid was raising herself out of the water.

Maddy looked on in amazement as the turquoise scales that covered the mermaid’s body from head to fin seemed to sink beneath the skin, altering the tone and complexion to a more pinkish human one. The nipples on the breasts became darker and, more amazingly, the tail seemed to split apart down the middle and mould themselves into a pair of shapely human legs and feet, complete with a hairless vaginal slit between the thighs. As she emerged from the pool the mermaid flicked her long fire-red hair from side to side as if she were one of those models from a shampoo commercial, sending water flicking in all directions, but she made it look like it was the most natural thing in the world.

Maddy was not aware that her mouth had dropped open and that she was staring, and that warm tingly sensation in her crotch was back again. Her snakes were likewise transfixed, as they had been by Wanda’s nude portrait.

“Damn.” Maddy managed to whisper, “She is so hot.”

Wanda gave Maddy’s hand a squeezed and smiled indulgently.

“Down, little Maddy. I’m afraid that Maria is not into girls, are you, Maria?” she said the last bit out loud so that the mermaid could hear.

Maria seemed to see the two of them for the first time and her sensuous lips curved into a smile. She did not seem in the least perturbed by the fact that she was naked in front of them.

“Hello, Wanda.” She said, and her voice carried an unfamiliar accent, like a song echoing off distant shores. “Have you been spying on me again?”

“Girls?” Maddy was suddenly babbling, “Who says I’m into girls?”

Maria looked Maddy up and down, her sensual smile unwavering.

“Is this your new girlfriend?”

“Don’t be silly, Maria.” Wanda chuckled softly, “You know who this is.”

Maria’s sea green eyes widened as realisation dawned on her.

“This is little Maddy?” She said, “I welcome you, child. We’ve all heard so much about you.”

“Thanks.” Maddy replied, still blushing hard, it felt like some of the butterflies from the garden had gotten inside her stomach somehow. “It’s a pleasure to meet you as well. Maria is an awfully ordinary name for a pretty mermaid like you though, if you don’t mind my saying? Pretty, but ordinary.”

Maria cocked her head to one side and blinked once.

“What sort of name do you think I should have?” she asked, clearly amused.

“I dunno, something like Ariel or Sirena, or something exotic like that.” Maddy replied bashfully.

“Maria is not my real name.” the mermaid told her, “But it is the human name that I have chosen. I’m afraid that my given name is not pronounceable to the human tongue.”

“What is your given name?” Maddy asked curiously, whilst simultaneously congratulating herself inwardly for maintaining eye contact and _not_ staring at the mermaid’s nipples.

Maria smile warmly.

“My given name is…” and the next sound that came out of her mouth was more akin to the clicks and whistles that Maddy had heard dolphins and whales make on nature documentaries than any vowels or syllables that could be formulated with human speech. The ‘name’ seemed to breeze through Maddy like a caress and only served to make the tingling in her loins even more potent to the extent that she almost felt her knees buckle.

Maddy wavered like a drunken sailor on the deck of a rocking ship and tightened her grip on Wanda’s hand.

“Woah.” She breathed. “That’s a pretty name.”


	8. Eight

“Don’t be fooled by Maria’s older and wiser than thou routine,” Wanda confided to Maddy as they re-entered the mansion, “She is no older than you are.”

“You mean she’s just eighteen, like me?” Maddy asked in astonishment.

Wanda nodded. “She may appear to act mature, but I can assure you it is just an act. Though just like you she has had to grow up very quickly, though for different reasons.”

“Has she lost both of her parents too, then?” Maddy wondered.

“Not at all.” Wanda replied, “Both Maria’s parents are alive and well, but perhaps I will let Maria herself tell you her own story sometime. It will give the two of you something to talk about and bond over, since you are to stay with us.”

Maddy nodded. “I think, I’d like that.” And suddenly she blushed. “Not because she’s hot or anything. I’m not into girls!”

Wanda gave her a look that suggested that she wasn’t quite buying that.

Maddy’s blush deepened to an even darker shade of scarlet and her snakes wriggled uncomfortably.

“At least I don’t think I am. I used to have a little crush on Melissa Joan Hart when I was growing up, but I also used to think Justin Bieber was cute too! Used to. I’ve never had a boyfriend, or a girlfriend. Hell, before today I never had any friends. All I ever had was my daddy… and now I don’t even have him anymore.” A solitary tear escaped from under her sunglasses. “I’ve never experienced any kind of attraction like I did just now with, Maria… or with you and your portrait. This is all so new to me and I kind of feel guilty about being a typical hormonal teenager getting all horny over naked girls when I only lost my father a few hours ago. I don’t know what to do.”

Wanda wrapped her arms around Maddy and pulled her into another one of her warm and comforting hugs.

“It pleases me that you would call me a friend after such a short space of time.” Wanda soothed, “I am here for you whenever you need me, and I can promise you that what you are feeling is very natural. You cannot control your hormones. At the moment you are being subjected to a cornucopia of new feelings, sensations and experiences that you have never had before and it is natural that you will be overwhelmed by them, but I want you to know that I, Veronique and the other girls are all here to help you through it all one step and one day at a time.”

Maddy squeezed Wanda gratefully and just allowed herself to be held and comforted.

“Thank you, Wanda. I don’t know what I would do without you right now.”

“Come,” Wanda disengaged gently and took Maddy by the hand once more, “It’s time you finally met Veronique.”

They walked a little further until they came to an actual honest to gods elevator, which Wanda summoned up from below.

“Woah, why do we need to take an elevator to see Veronique?” Maddy wondered.

“It’s daytime. During the sunlit hours Veronique spends most of her time in the basement levels where there are no windows.” Wanda explained, “When she is not sleeping she will more than likely be found toiling in her laboratory. I don’t doubt that is where we will find her now.”

The elevator arrived and the doors slid open.

Wanda entered with Maddy and pressed the button to go down.

The doors slid shut and the elevator began its descent.

Maddy squeezed Wanda’s hand nervously as they travelled down into the bowels of Veronique’s mansion.

“So far since I’ve been here I’ve met a kind and beautiful werewolf, gothic necromancer and zombie lesbians and a hot sexy mermaid.” She smirked, “Kinda makes me wonder what to expect when I finally see Veronique…” Then something that Wanda had said clicked inside Maddy’s befuddled brain. “Wait a second. You said Veronique spends the daylight hours underground where the sun can’t reach her… she’s a vampire, isn’t she?”

“Elementary, my dear little Maddy.” Wanda replied with an amused smile.

The lift finally stopped and the doors opened out onto a marbled corridor lit by fluorescent bulbs that lined the arched ceiling. There was an ornate wooden door set into the right-hand wall halfway down this corridor and then a set of double doors at the end that would not have looked out of place in a school building or hospital. Not that Maddy knew what the inside of either of those buildings would look like seeing as she’d never gone to school or been in a hospital. Her only knowledge of such institutes came from what she had seen on TV.

She allowed herself to be led by the hand out of the elevator by Wanda. It amazed her how implicitly she trusted this woman after having only known her for such a short period of time. Her snakes seemed to like Wanda too and they were generally right about these sorts of things from the limited experience that she had.

“This is the door to Veronique’s bed chamber.” Wanda informed her, gesturing to the ornate wooden door as they passed it, “Though I doubt we’ll find her in there.”

“Does she sleep in a coffin?” Maddy had to ask. All sorts of wild preconceptions about her mysterious host and benefactor were milling around inside her head ever since she had discovered that she was a vampire.

Wanda chuckled. “No, she does not. Veronique sleeps in a bed as you and I do.”

Maddy nodded as she digested this morsel of information.

“Cool.”

They reached the end of the corridor and Wanda paused before the double doors, turning and looking into the mirrored surface of Maddy’s sunglasses as if she could peer right through them and see into the eyes beneath.

“Are you ready?”

Maddy swallowed nervously. “As I’ll ever be.” She replied.

Wanda smiled and pushed the door open so that they could enter.

The room that they walked into was a vast laboratory lined with workbenches and all manner of scientific equipment from microscopes, centrifuges, Bunsen burners, petri dishes and test tubes, and these were just the things that Maddy could name. There was a whole heap of other stuff that Maddy couldn’t even begin to figure out.

Amidst all of this scientific paraphernalia there stood a petite little woman who appeared to be no older than Maddy. She had long white hair tied back into the sort of bun that Maddy would normally have associated with older women, and she was dressed in a white lab coat over the top of a crimson blouse and black skirt that came to just below the knees. On her feet were a pair of simple flat black shoes and a pair of protective eye goggles was perched upon her head.

Maddy wasn’t sure quite what she had expected, but this was not it.

The woman, Veronique, did not look up when they entered, immersed as she was in pouring some sort of pink solution from one flask into another which contained another clearer liquid.

Maddy watched as the pink and clear liquids mingled and clouded over until they turned a deep, blood red. Veronique smiled, and her sapphire blue eyes seemed to burn with intense heat as she regarded the contents of the flask with something akin to hunger. She then raised the blood red liquid to her lips and drank deeply, but daintily, not allowing a single drop to spill over and be wasted.

Once she had drained the flask completely a child-like smile of contentment twitched across her pale features. And then she noticed Wanda and Maddy standing there for the first time and Maddy would swear that she blushed.

“I’m ever so sorry,” she apologised, her accent was polished and cultured, not seeming to be from any one place, as if it had been refined from centuries of elocution lessons, which perhaps it had been. “You just caught me in the middle of breakfast.”

“Was that blood?” Maddy asked, her brow furrowing in puzzlement.

Veronique smiled like a professor indulging her favourite pupil.

“A blood substitute of my own formulation that I came up with about two hundred years ago.” She explained, “Does away with all of that unpleasant biting and sucking business that I had to endure for the first couple of centuries of my vampiric existence. Most uncivilised. I’m only sorry that it took me that long to come up with it.”

Veronique shook her head as if to rid herself of the memories of all that uncivilised biting and then she looked at Maddy again, as if seeing her for the first time, and her smile widened in delight whilst simultaneously revealing her pearly white fangs.

“Oh, my goodness, Madeline!” she exclaimed, stepping from behind her bench and approaching the young gorgon enthusiastically, “It’s you. You’re here! Wanda, why didn’t you tell me Madeline was here?” she directed those dazzling blue eyes at Wanda with a pouty frown.

Maddy felt Wanda squirm a little beside her, much the same way that she had done earlier when faced with Maria the Mermaid in all her naked glory.

“I brought her here as soon as she was awake, Veronique.” Wanda replied with practiced patience, “We just got a little side tracked meeting the others and grabbing some breakfast of our own on the way here. Little Maddy has been through a great deal of trauma and I didn’t want to rush her and overwhelm her.”

“Yes, yes, of course, you’re quite right, Wanda.” Veronique rewarded the werewolf with a sweet smile and Maddy sensed her friend go weak at the knees upon receiving it.

Veronique returned her attention to Maddy, taking her by the hand and raising it to her chest.

“I was so sorry to hear about what happened to your father.” She sighed sadly. “He was a good man. Oh, but look at you… you are beautiful… even more so than in those pictures your father showed me.” Veronique looked at Maddy’s eyes, or rather at her glasses and she seemed to literally bob up and down with excitement.

“Oh, but I have something for you, Madeline that your father would have wanted you to have…” and without warning Veronique reached out and plucked the sunglasses off Maddy’s face.

Maddy quickly closed her eyes for fear that she might accidentally turn the sweet little vampire to stone. Her snakes writhed and danced anxiously.

Veronique stepped on the pedal of a nearby dustbin and unceremoniously dropped Maddy’s sunglasses into the waste receptacle before dashing off to another corner of the laboratory.

“Now where did I put them?” she muttered mainly to herself, “I know that they’re around here somewhere!” she busied herself searching the various workbenches and cabinets until…

“Ah-hah! I have them!”

Veronique snatched up what she had been searching for and returned to where Maddy waited anxiously, Wanda holding her hand and stroking it with reassuring circles of her thumb.

“Here take these.” Veronique thrust a small metal box into Maddy’s hand and then the young gorgon felt herself being steered over to only the gods knew where.

Maddy could feel that there was a bench in front of her.

“You can open your eyes now.” Veronique’s voice came from behind her. “It’s quite safe, I assure you.”

Maddy slowly opened her eyes as instructed. There was a round, sliver mirror in front of her and her own yellow, snake-like eyes stared back at her. She looked at the metal box in her hand and slowly she opened it.

Inside there were two round little discs of some sort of transparent material. Maddy knew instantly what they were.

“I… I’ve never put contact lenses in before.” She stammered nervously.

A warm comforting presence came up behind Maddy that she immediately recognised.

“I will guide you, little Maddy.” Wanda’s soft, soothing voice assured her and Maddy felt her stomach perform somersaults as two dark skinned arms came around from behind her.

“If you hold your eyes open then I will put the lenses in.” Wanda instructed, “I can see your eyes in the mirror, they cannot harm me. They are quite lovely actually.”

“Th-thank you.” Maddy stammered. With her own hands she did her best to keep her eyelids from blinking and Wanda took out the first lens and with infinite care and patience, using the reflection in the mirror as her guide, she brought it up slowly and inserted the lens tenderly upon Maddy’s iris. Wanda then repeated this action with the second lens on Maddy’s other eye.

Maddy blinked as she got used to the weird sensation of having these alien objects sitting upon her eyeballs. She didn’t dare turn around to look at Veronique and Wanda.

“It’s alright, Madeline.” Veronique’s voice, “It’s perfectly safe I can assure you. You may look at us without fear in your heart.”

Maddy took a few deep breaths and closed her eyes. How could she do this? What if Veronique was wrong? She didn’t want to risk turning either of them to stone.

“Come, little Maddy.” Wanda soothed, “Look at me with those beautiful eyes.”

Maddy turned around with her eyes still closed. For a moment she just stood there. Her snakes wriggled, sharing her anxiety. Then slowly she opened her eyes and looked ahead of her, at Veronique who was smiling and clapping her hands gleefully and at the beautiful Wanda who also smiled, completely trusting and unafraid. And neither of them turned to stone.

Maddy collapsed to her knees and began to cry.


	9. Nine

  Veronique looked on as Maddy sobbed her heart out, curled up on the floor. The vampire’s porcelain features were twisted into an ‘o’ of dismayed surprise and her hands flapped at her sides ineffectually.

“Oh, my goodness, Wanda. This wasn’t quite the reaction I had anticipated?” Veronique exclaimed querulously. “What on Earth should I do? I thought she’d be happier.”

Wanda quickly rushed and knelt beside Maddy, wrapping her arms around her, hushing and soothing her like a child.

“There, there, little Maddy.” She cooed, “It’s alright. I’m here and you can let it all out.”

Maddy just sobbed uncontrollably into Wanda’s chest. Whilst the werewolf continued to rock her and console her, she looked up at her friend and mentor.

“Can you really not imagine what this must be like for her?” Wanda asked, though there was no trace of reproach in her voice. “You have just given her something that she has wanted for her entire life. Something that she would have loved to have shared with her father, but her father is not here to see it.”

“I’m sorry, perhaps it was too soon for me to give her this gift. Perhaps I should have waited for a better time?” Veronique replied sadly.

“There may not have been a ‘better time’.” Wanda admitted, “Even if you had waited, the sense of loss at her father’s absence would still have been there.”

A little noise came from Maddy’s huddled form in Wanda’s arms and the two older women realised that she was trying to speak.

Veronique leaned in closer to try to hear whilst Wanda whispered words of encouragement.

“What is it, little Maddy?”

“I… I’m very grateful for what you have given me, Ms Veronique…” Maddy managed to sniff.

“Oh please, just Veronique.” The vampire interrupted.

“B-but Wanda’s right… I… I wish my daddy was here to see this….” She sobbed. “I miss him so much!” Maddy buried her face in Wanda’s chest once more and surrendered to her grief.

“Perhaps you should take Madeline back to her room so that she can rest for a while? I can speak with her more later when she is feeling a little better.” Veronique suggested.

“And will you be sleeping at all this day?” Wanda asked as she stood up with Maddy cradled in her arms as effortlessly as if she were carrying a baby. This time there was a hint of reproach, as if this was an old argument between the two of them.

“You know full well, Wanda, that I require very little sleep.” Veronique answered curtly.

Wanda rolled her eyes, unsurprised by the answer, but turned to leave with Maddy rather than continue the discussion.

“Wait!” Maddy’s little voice squeaked.

“What is it, child?” Wanda soothed.

Maddy turned her face to look at Veronique, her yellow eyes red-rimmed and still brimming with tears.

“My daddy is still at the cabin, just lying there all alone.” She said, “Please, I can’t just leave him there. Will you let me go and get his body so that we can bring him back here for a proper burial?”

Veronique shook her head sadly.

“It would be too dangerous for you to go back, Madeline.” The vampire told her, “The killer may still be there, waiting and hoping that you will return so that they can kill you too.”

“Please!” Maddy begged, reaching out a desperate hand towards Veronique, “We can’t just leave him there.”

“I will send Zoe and Natasha to retrieve your father’s body and bring him back here, but I will also warn them to be on the lookout for any signs of trouble. I will not have them risk their lives needlessly, do you understand?” Veronique conceded.

Maddy nodded. “Yes, Ms Veronique, I understand… and thank you.” She allowed her head to sink back into Wanda’s chest and the werewolf turned and carried her out of the laboratory.


	10. Ten

When Wanda finally had Maddy back in her bedroom she set the young gorgon down on the bed gently and sat next to her. She began to help Maddy out of her hoodie, lifting it off over her head, the young gorgon raising her arms to facilitate its removal.

“You have been in these clothes since last night.” Wanda observed, and next she helped Maddy to remove her T-shirt, so that now the teenager sat there in just her jeans and a black bra. “Let me help you take them off. You have an _en-suite_ bathroom where you can have a bath and clean yourself up. I will help you with that too if you wish. Then you can put on some clean clothes, I’m sure that Maria will have something that you can wear; and then you can get some well-deserved rest.”

Maddy took off her shoes and socks, then stood up and let Wanda remove her jeans.

“Thank you, Wanda.” Maddy sniffed, “You’ve been so wonderful today.”

“I will draw you a bath whilst you take off your own underwear; you will find a robe that you can put on in that closet over there. I will call you when the bath is ready.” Wanda told her with a smile and then she got up and walked through a door into what was presumably the bathroom.

Maddy smiled back sadly as she watched her go. At least she wasn’t crying at the moment. She reached behind her and began to unfasten her bra. Maddy slid the straps off her shoulders and removed the under garment, placing it on the pile with her other clothes, before also slipping off her matching cotton panties.

She crossed to the closet that Wanda had indicated and quickly found a pink silk robe to put on. Maddy shrugged the robe on and pulled it closed around her nakedness. It must have been a one size fits all, she mused, as it hugged the curves of her body perfectly.

Now that she was undressed Maddy wondered if she should just join Wanda in the bathroom. It’s not like Wanda would be able to see anything now that she was wearing this robe, but then Wanda had already seen her in just her bra and panties. Maddy blushed at the thought of this… then she remembered how Wanda had behaved around Veronique. Did those two maybe have a thing going on, just like Zoe and Natasha?

Maddy shook her head. Veronique looked too wrapped up in her lab work to be bothered with romantic liaisons of any description. So, did that mean that Wanda was unattached?

Maddy mentally rebuked herself. It was none of her business whether Wanda was seeing someone or not. Unless of course she had some deeper reason for wanting Wanda to be single? Oh my gods, was she attracted to Wanda? How could she be even thinking about something like this under the circumstances? She was still grieving her father and yet here she was thinking about an older woman whom she’d only just met.

Wanda was so kind and beautiful. Maddy felt safe in her arms. If Maddy really was interested in girls, as she was beginning to suspect, then she could think of no one else that she would rather be with for her first time.

Besides, if all went well then she would be seeing her daddy again very soon.

Maddy smiled and opened the door to enter into the bathroom.

Wanda looked up from drawing water into the bathtub and smiled.

“Would you like to finish up your bath whilst I go and find you something to wear?”

Maddy smiled back, she was suddenly nervous, considering what she had made up her mind to do. Her snakes twisted and entwined themselves anxiously.

“You don’t have to hurry off on my account.” Maddy said clumsily, stepping up to Wanda so that her body was all but pressed up against the older woman. She put her arms around Wanda’s waist and hugged her, head rested on her chest.

Wanda frowned in puzzlement, but returned the hug nonetheless.

Maddy lifted her head and looked up at Wanda, forcing the older woman to look down into her amber eyes questioningly.

“Is everything alright, little Maddy?”

Maddy answered by leaning up on her tiptoes and kissing Wanda softly on the mouth.

Wanda did not kiss her back, but she did not pull away either. Maddy had never given much thought about when she would have her first kiss. Living the life she had she had not anticipated meeting any guys or girls anytime soon. Now that she was actually in the middle of that first kiss her mind was racing. Was this right? Should she be doing this now? Should she have waited? Gods, her lips felt so soft and warm.

When Maddy did pull away she spoke quickly before Wanda could react.

“I’m so sorry, Wanda, I don’t know what got into me just then. You’ve been so kind to me. I just feel so safe when I’m in your arms. I think I  wanted you to be the first person who’s intimate with me. I acted on an impulse, but I probably shouldn’t even be thinking about things like this right now.” Maddy became embarrassed halfway through this impassioned confession and had to avert her gaze to the bathroom tiles. “Oh gods. I’m such an idiot.”

Wanda took her arms from around Maddy and took her face in her hands, tilting it upwards so that she could look into her eyes again. Maddy was afraid of what she would see in Wanda’s expression, but was relieved to be met by that kind smile that had become so warm and familiar in such a short space of time.

“I’m flattered, my little Maddy, that you think so highly of me. I will always be here for you whenever you need me.”

“Thank you.” Maddy replied softly. “I’ve made such a fool of myself.”

“No, you have not.” Wanda assured her, “It is only natural that you would seek solace in any kind of intimacy right now.”

“Thank you for being so understanding. You really are amazing, you know that don’t you?” Maddy told her with a wistful smile.

“It’s always nice to be told.” Wanda replied with a hint of mischief in her eyes, “Now, finish your bath and I’ll get you those clothes.”


	11. Eleven

After killing the creature’s guardian the Hunter had not dared to pursue the monster into the forest. Having lived here for the past eighteen years the monster would no doubt know the lie of the land and hold any advantages; it would have been foolish to give chase. The Hunter was patient. They had waited eighteen years to track down their prey, a little longer would not hurt.

The Hunter had stepped over the guardian’s corpse and into the creature’s lair. Inside the layout was much as you would expect from any normal human dwelling: sofa, armchair, TV (still on and running some old 90s sitcom). There were pictures on the walls and cabinets of the guardian and the abomination, smiling out as if they were a normal happy family. Seeing these pretences at humanity made the Hunter’s ire raise and curse the fact that the creature had eluded its destruction. No matter; surely it would not have wandered too far from its lair?

A cursory investigation was made to see if there were any clues as to somewhere that the creature may have fled to for sanctuary, but other than a phone number on the fridge in the kitchen for someone called Veronique Bouton, the Hunter was unable to find anything.

Firmly believing that the creature would return, the Hunter sat down in the arm chair to wait.

They remained that way for over three hours before it occurred to them that, just maybe, their prey may not return. As much as they hated to attribute human emotions to these abominations, the Hunter had to admit that there was a strong possibility that the beast was too frightened to come back.

The creature was too unlike humans to be able hide among them undetected, so it could not have fled to a town or city. Could it?

Frightened animals were driven to desperate measures. Could it have been driven towards civilisation in its panicked flight from danger. If so then innocent lives could be at risk.

The Hunter dared not linger further. They got up and stalked purposefully out of the cabin, climbing upon their motorcycle.

They would check the roads. If they were lucky they may yet catch it before it reached anywhere where it could do any damage or harm.

 

The Hunter had spotted the fresh tyre tracks leading down the side road into the forest and had decided to investigate them on a hunch. Not long after that they had found Gregory’s petrified remains. There was no sign of the vehicle. Once again the Hunter was forced to reassess their preconceptions regarding the beast that they were hunting. It appeared that this monster knew how to drive.

By now they could be anywhere. The Hunter punched a nearby tree in angry frustration.

They returned to their motorcycle once more and sat in the saddle for while to think upon their next course of action.

If they had been wrong about this aspect of the beast then what else could they be wrong about? Was it possible that the creature had some sort of emotional attachment to its guardian?

If that were possible then perhaps all was not lost. The Hunter revved up the motorcycle and turned about, heading back to the cabin. There was one last gamble that they were prepared to make.


	12. Twelve

Greece, ninteen years ago.

Janet and Michael Sterling were newlyweds on their honeymoon. Three days into their romantic holiday the couple decided to rent a couple of jetskis and ride out to one of the islands.

Michael let his new wife take the lead so that he could admire her bikini-clad figure as she straddled the jetski. It was his hope that they would find a little secluded beach somewhere with no one else about so that they could continue where they had left off from in their hotel room that morning, and the night before and the whole day before that.

He and Janet wanted to have kids as soon as possible and if she didn’t get pregnant after all of the sex they’d had so far this honeymoon then there had to be something wrong! They had another week and a half of Greek paradise to look forward to, so they had plenty of time.

They were getting close to one of the islands and when Michael saw Janet slow down ahead of him he followed suit.

She was gesturing towards a crescent shaped sandy alcove over on the left hand side of the island. There didn’t appear to be anybody on that little stretch of sand. Michael smiled, it would appear that Janet had the exact same idea as he did.

Together they headed towards the little beach.

Janet reached the shore just a few moments before Michael, jumping off her jetski and pulling it up onto the sand. She turned and smiled a greeting towards her handsome new husband as he arrived not long after.

Even through the dark filter of her sunglasses Michael looked every inch the strapping beefcake hunk in his tight speedos and six pack abs; as if he had been carved from granite like one of those ancient Greek statues of Appollo. Janet was certainly enjoying all of the energetic love making that they had indulged in pretty much since their honeymoon had begun, though she felt guilty about lying to him so early into their marriage. Michael was so keen to have kids, but Janet wanted to wait a year or two. Not quite ready to get into their very first marital dispute Janet had been secretly taking the pill so that they would not get pregnant so soon as her hubby would like. What he didn’t know couldn’t hurt him, right? She just prayed that he never found out.

Michael walked up to her, as soon as he had secured his own jetski, and encircled an arm around her waist, bending her over backwards and kissing her like the romantic lead in some cheesy rom-com.

When they finally came up for air Michael turned his attention towards kissing her neck and nibbling her earlobe.

“Great minds think alike, huh?” he breathed into her ear, gesturing with his free hand around the expanse of secluded beach.

“Maybe.” She giggled, kissing him and biting his lower lip seductively. “It has been a few hours since I had your cock inside me.”

Michael’s eyes widened in mock surprise at his wife’s filthy mouth.

Janet kissed him again and then began kissing down the length of his chiselled torso until her eyeline was level with the bulge in the front of his speedos. She looked up at her husband with a smile loaded with promise and peeled the speedos down to uncover his throbbing erection. Janet gave it a few quick tugs with one hand before taking it into her mouth.

Michael looked up at the surrounding cliff-face, eyes rolling back into his head as he surrendered to his wife’s tender care.

 

A short while later Michael left Janet basking in the sunshine and the after glow of their latest bout of baby making. He hadn’t bothered to put back on his speedos. There was no one around to see him as he strode along the beach with his manhood swinging like a pendulum between his legs. Michael had spotted some caves over on the right hand side of the beach and had decided to go and explore for a bit while his wife soaked up the sun.

He clambered carefully over the rocks as he made his way to the cave entrance. It looked dark inside, but there was enough sunlight pouring in the direction of the cave mouth that visibility within its murky interior shouldn’t be too problematic.

“Michael, what are you doing over there?” Janet called from her spreadeagled position on the sand, her legs still felt a bit wobbly from the pounding that she’d just received, but the sand had found its way into her butt crack… among other places, and so sunbathing no longer held the appeal that it had just a few moments ago.

Michael turned his back on the cave mouth to answer her.

“I’m just going to have a look in this cave.”

Janet peered over the top of her sunglasses at the sight of her husband’s penis dangling limply between his muscular thighs. Damn, but she just could not get enough of him right now. She staggered to her feet on her jelly legs and started to wobble over to join him.

“I’ll come and join you!” she called, “I’ve never done it in a cave before!”

Michael’s laughter drifted back to her across the sea breeze.

“I’ll see you in there!” he shouted back before turning around and moving on inside the cave.

The interior of the cave went on quite a way into the side of the cliff. Michael decided not to wander too far away from the entrance so that he wouldn’t lose the little light provided by the sun outside. He had not brought anything with him that could be used as a torch. No pockets.

A movement in the darkness ahead caught his attention. Michael stepped further into the cave, the shape in the shadows had been almost human.

“Is anybody there?” he called.

“Who are you talking to?” Janet asked as she came into the cave.

“There’s someone else in here.” Michael replied as he advanced on the figure in the darkness.

“Please, no closer!” a woman’s voice with a local Greek accent.

Michael took another step forward and then stopped.

“Oh, my God!” he exclaimed and then nothing as he suddenly seemed to freeze where he stood.

Right before Janet’s eyes she watched as her husband’s beautiful body took on a grey stone like hue and his limbs stiffened into the positions in which they had held prior to his outburst.

“Michael?” Janet called her husband’s name. She raced forward, ignoring the pain when sharp stones cut into her bare feet.

As she looked closely at her husband’s prone form she could see clearly that he now, more than ever, resembled one of those old Greek statues that she had compared him to in her mind earlier, except now he really did appear to be carved from stone… his feet were frozen in mid-step, arms slightly raised in front of him as if warding off something in front of him, and his penis poised forever in mid-swing.

“What’s happened to you?” Janet sobbed, tears brimming behind her sunglasses.

She turned at the sound of movement behind her and she saw what had brought about her husband’s fate.

There was a woman partially obscured by the shadows, but visible enough so that Janet could see that she was rather beautiful in her light flowery dress, until she looked up and saw the yellow glowing eyes and the nest of green and brown snakes that took the place of hair on top of her head. Janet gasped in horror, she’d read the story of Medusa when she was at school years ago, but never in her wildest dreams did she ever believe that she might be real.

“Get back!” she stammered fearfully, taking several steps backwards. Not looking where she was going, Janet knocked into something behind her and she turned around just in time to see Michael’s petrified body topple over and crash upon the rocky cave floor, his head breaking off as it hit a particularly large stone.

Janet screamed, torn between the desire to stay with her husband’s body and to get away from the monster behind her. She had looked right into it’s eyes, so why hadn’t she been turned to stone like Michael? Was it the sunglasses she was wearing? If she kept them on would she be safe?

Suddenly Janet was overwhelmed by an intense hatred and anger for this beast that had taken her husband away from her. She reached down and picked up the largest rock that she could manage in one hand, then she turned to confront the monster.

But it was nowhere to be seen.

 

Janet fled back to the mainland as soon as she reached her jetski. Once there she found a policeman and spent the next few hours waiting for a Greek to English interpreter to come into the station so that she could relay her story. Needless to say, the Greek authorities found her tale about Medusa particularly hard to believe, however, they could not deny that she was definitely distressed about something. And so they agreed to return with her to the island and the scene of the incident.

Janet rode in a police boat and took them straight to the little secluded alcove where she and Michael had made love earlier that day. There was no jetty or pier for the boat to moor to, so they had to use a rubber dinghy to reach what remained of the beach, the tide having come in long ago.

“Something’s wrong.” Janet spoke directly to the interpreter that had been provided and who had accompanied them on the boat. “My husband’s jetski was left here on the beach, but I don’t see it anymore.”

“As you can see, Mrs Sterling, the tide has come in since you were last here.” The interpreter answered her patiently, “It is likely that the jetski will have been carried out to sea by now. If it hit any of these rocks then it may also have sunk to the bottom.”

Janet nodded absently in acceptance of this answer. It didn’t matter about the jetski. So long as they found her husband’s body and the thing that killed him.

She had insisted that all of the attending officers wear sunglasses and she still retained her own, so that they would not be affected by the creature’s petrifying gaze.

The officers had obligingly humoured her request.

The tide had come in so far that they were able to row to the entrance of the cave that Janet directed them to and tether the boat to one of the protruding rocks before making their way inside with guns and torches.

Despite their dismissal of Janet’s claim that a monster had killed her husband there was still an air of aprehension among the assembled officers.

They ventured into the cave, the rocks beneath their feet made slippery and treacherous by the encroaching sea.

“Perhaps we should have left this until tomorrow when the tide would have been out again?” one young officer said to his colleague, in Greek, but he received only a reproachful glare as a reply.

Janet stood in the spot where she knew her husband’s body had fallen. She remembered it in great detail as if it had happened only a few seconds ago.

“He should be here!” she exclaimed, tears welling once more, “Why isn’t he here?”

Janet began to look among the surrounding rocks for any signs of her husband’s petrified remains.

Her efforts to find him were so frantic that her foot slid upon the slippery surface and it was only the proximity of the interpreter, catching her as she fell, that saved her from a potentially serious injury.

“Why isn’t he here?” Janet was sobbing uncontrollably now and sank into the arms of the interpreter like a broken, limp rag doll.

None of the men present could give her any answer.

Whilst Janet was being consoled by the interpreter the other officers made a search of the cave for any evidence at all that would corroborate Janet’s claims.

“There’s nothing here, the woman is obviously a nutcase.” The same officer that had spoken out to his colleague earlier, again voiced his opinion to his fellow officers. As before, his bluntness was greeted by disapproving looks, but none of the men could argue with his hypothesis.

“It is well that the woman does not understand Greek otherwise you’d have a complaint on your hands, Fabio. I do not necessarily agree with you that she is crazy, she has obviously experienced some kind of trauma, but there is nothing here that lends any credence to her claims of Medusa and monsters.” One of his colleagues replied.

“What are they saying?” Janet asked the interpreter, though she feared she could guess.

“They cannot find anything that supports the story that you have told us, Mrs Sterling.” The interpreter answered her tactfully.

“I’m not making this up!” Janet pulled away from his comforting embrace, “I know what I saw. There was a monstrous woman with snakes for hair and she turned my husband into a statue.”

“You must appreciate how unbelievable that sounds, _kyria_.” The interpreter said, keeping his tone apologetic and sympathetic.

“I know what I saw.” Janet repeated, but there was nothing that she could say or do that would convince the officers to take their investigation any further.

As she allowed herself to be led away back to the boat, Janet’s resolve hardened like the stone that her Michael had become. She wiped away her tears. The time for mourning was over. She would go away and prepare, and she would come back. She would find the monster and she would have her revenge.

 

One year later. Janet Sterling was dressed all in black, like one of those Japanese ninjas. Even her face was covered and her eyes were obscured by nightvision goggles that she hoped would afford her the same protection as the sunglasses had. She was in a little speedboat that she had hired and was using it to make her way out to the island where she had encountered Medusa and lost her husband the year before. An Uzi nine millimeter automatic machine pistol was slung over one shoulder. It was what she planned to use to destroy Medusa when, not if, she found her.

Janet knew she was there. She knew that she didn’t just imagine what happened to Michael. There had to be some sort of secret exit to the cave that those policemen were just too incompetent to find.

Well she would find it, and when she did she would also find Medusa and then kill her.

Janet brought the boat up to the mouth of the all too familiar cave. The tide was in, as it had been on the night she had returned to the island with those foolish police, so the beach on which she had made love to her husband for the very last time was concealed beneath the waves. Thankfully these waves were relatively calm, so she was able to bring the boat up close to the cave’s entrance without damaging the hull on any rocks.

Janet killed the engine and tethered the boat to a handy protruding rock before jumping out and entering the cave. Thanks to her night vision goggles the dark interior was rendered to her in a clear green hue. She picked her way over the slippery surface of the cave, pausing for a moment on the spot where she had last seen Michael, blinking back tears. Janet shook her head. This was not the time to grieve. That had long passed for her. Now there could only be vengeance. She moved onto the area where she remembered seeing Medusa for the first time, shrouded in shadows. The wall of the cave was far from smooth and was peppered with jutting rocks of varying shapes and sizes. Janet felt her way along this wall until she found an opening that was concealed by one such protruding rock. A casual observer standing away from the wall would not have seen it, but Janet had found it and it seemed to be just large enough to admit a person… or a monster.

Janet unslung the Uzi from her shoulder and checked that the safety was off, then she stepped into the opening and squeezed through into the passage beyond. There was a narrow passageway that apparently went on for several miles deep into the mountain, the walls smooth as if they had been slowly eroded away by water over the centuries. Indeed, they felt moist when Janet ran her fingers along them. Perhaps the passageway ran parrallel with some sort of underground river, Janet mused. The passage went upwards.

Janet began to ascend.

After the first twenty minutes the naturally eroded pathway gave way to what was more obviously a man made stairwell, well worn from use over many years. Had the monster made these stairs or did it have human allies?

Janet continued her ascent, hoping that these stairs meant that she was nearly at the top.

Sure enough, another ten minutes later, Janet found herself emerging from a hole in the ground.

As she looked behind her she could see the edge of the cliff mere feet away from where she stood.

The hole was situated within the corner of a quaint little garden which looked beautiful even through the night goggles. A fence ran around the perimeter to prevent anyone from wandering over the cliff edge and beyond the garden there sat a little cottage, like something off a picture postcard painting.

Lights in the lower storey windows told Janet that someone was home. Could this really be the lair of Medusa?

The curtains were not closed, so Janet could see right inside the cottage to the occupants within. What she saw made her blood boil and only served to add further fuel to her fires of vengeance…

A family of three was sat on a sofa in front of the television, two parents and a newborn baby. The father figure was just a man. He wore sunglasses and was smiling happily as he held his baby daughter in front of his face. The baby was dressed in a pink onesie, which was how Janet had guessed the sex, but that was not the most noticable thing about the child. No, the feature that stood out on this seemingly innocent looking infant was its head full of writhing snakes instead of hair… just like its mother, sat beside the father, also smiling without a care in the world.

They were the perfect vision of the ideal happy family… a family that Janet couldn’t have anymore because her Michael had been stolen from her by this abomination. It did not deserve this happiness. It did not deserve to live.

She would have to move quickly. If she could see them so clearly then it would only take a glance from them in her direction for them to see _her_.

Janet raised the Uzi to her shoulder and sighted down the barrel, just as she had practiced many times at the firing range in the last year. Allowing for the kick of her weapon, Janet aimed low at Medusa’s chest level… the monster would die first… then its offspring and then the traitor to humanity that was the father.

Feeling sure of her target, Janet let out the breath that she had been holding and squeezed the trigger.

At the exact moment that the Uzi fired, Medusa looked up and saw Janet… saw the muzzle flash… then there was the shattering of glass as the window exploded and Medusa’s head whipped backwards in a spray of crimson as two nine millimeter slugs slammed into her face, right through to her brain. She was dead before her head hit the back of the sofa.

The father sat there in stunned, shocked silence for what seemed like an eternity, the baby still held aloft in his hands. Both had been splattered by the blood and brains from his wife… the baby’s mother. Then one look outside and he saw the figure out there in the garden, sighting down the barrel of an automatic weapon, preparing to fire again… at him and the baby.

He dived out of the way just in time just as the next barrage of bullets crashed through what remained of the window and drilled into the back of the sofa where he had just been.

Maddy’s father kept low to the ground, holding baby Maddy to his chest protectively as he fled the sitting room, accompanied by a hail of further bullets from outside.

Janet cursed as her bullet storm failed to find its targets. She began to walk towards the window that she had shot out, stepping over the threshold and into the living room once she reached it. For a moment she stood there impassivley over the body of the monster that had taken her husband and she spat at the corpse, the vile sputum mingling with the blood on what remained of the gorgon’s face.

Then she headed off in pursuit of the rest of her quarry. Janet found the front door open and heard the sound of a vehicle driving away before she reached it. No doubt he would drive to the shore where he would presumably have a boat to get him off the island with his abominable offspring. There was no way she could catch him now, even if she went back to her own boat.

No matter how long it took, Janet vowed there and then that she would somehow track them down and end them both. It was no less than they deserved.


	13. Thirteen

Natasha steered the yellow 1971 Buick GSX through the winding road of the Green Mountain National Forest, following the directions that Veronique had programmed into the GPS for them. Zoe sat beside her with the window wound down, admiring the beautiful scenery that they passed.

“You know, if you like, I can always pull over somewhere quiet and we can have a little naked one on one time in the woods?” Natasha suggested with a smile, her eyes not leaving the road.

“Will you stop!” Zoe grinned, “We’re out here on a serious mission. That poor girl’s daddy is still lyin’ out there somewhere and we’ve gotta bring him back so she can give him a proper burial.”

“Yeah, I know, I know!” Natasha conceded, but her smile didn’t waver. “Did you remember to put the plastic tarpaulin in the trunk? I don’t want to get blood all over the upholstery.”

“’Course I did. I ain’t stupid.” Zoe replied.

“I never said that you were.” Natasha responded.

The next series of directions from the GPS took them off the main road and deeper into the forest. Within the next ten minutes they had found Maddy’s former home.

Natasha parked the Buick outside the cabin and she and Zoe got out. They both looked around for any signs of life.

Zoe knelt by some tyre tracks that ran from the road they had just come in on; there was an indentation in the forest floor where something heavy had stood for a while and then the tracks turned and headed back out the way they had come in. The tracks were in a single file, like a motorbike.

“These must have been made by the killer. Looks like they left a few hours ago.” Zoe remarked.

“Or that’s what he wants us to think.” Natasha replied darkly. “Keep your eyes peeled.”

“Have I ever told you how sexy your Russian accent is.” Zoe smirked as she got up again.

“Many times.” Natasha smiled back with the barest hint of a blush.

They headed towards the cabin.

The door to the cabin had been left open. Maddy’s father still lay where he had fallen, the blood pool that had spread around him was cold and long congealed and a couple of flies buzzed around the bullet holes.

Natasha and Zoe looked down at the inert form sadly.

Natasha sighed.

“Come on, let us get this over with.”

Zoe returned to the car and popped the trunk open, she then went around to the back and retrieved the tarpaulin.

Together she and Natasha laid out the plastic sheet alongside the stiff body, then they carefully rolled it over onto the tarpaulin. The body had become stuck to the floor where the blood had congealed and there was a wet tearing sound as the two girls lifted it and rolled it over. By the time they had finished both of them were covered in blood and it was a great effort for Zoe not to start licking it off her hands. That would have been disrespectful to Maddy’s father, she thought. It was a good thing it wasn’t fresh, otherwise it would have been harder to resist.

“Shit!” Natasha cursed, “I knew I should have changed my clothes before driving out here.”

“Just means we get to take off our clothes and have a shower when we get home later.” Zoe smiled.

Natasha cheered up at the thought of that.

“Well, when you put it that way…” then she noticed the pained expression on Zoe’s face, “Hey, are you okay? I know how hard this must be for you, what with the temptation and everything.”

“I’ll be okay.” Zoe managed to smile again reassuringly.

Once they had finished suitably wrapping the body it was time for them to lift it. Natasha took the head while Zoe grabbed the feet and together they were able to wrestle the macabre bundle to the back of the Buick and lower it into the trunk. Natasha closed the trunk once she was satisfied that the body was sitting comfortably.

“It feels a little disrespectful stickin’ the old man in the trunk like that, but what else can we do?” Zoe said sadly.

“Don’t worry, when we get home we will see he gets proper burial.” Natasha assured her girlfriend, and, despite the blood that covered them both she gave Zoe a hug which was gratefully returned.

Afterwards they returned briefly to the cabin to retrieve a suit from the deceased’s wardrobe that he could be buried in. Then they got back into the car, turned it around, and drove away.

They didn’t know that they’d been watched the entire time.

 

Janet Sterling watched the two girls depart in their car with the body of the monster’s guardian in their trunk. When they had first arrived she had not known what to make of them until the dark haired one had knelt to examine the tracks of her motorcycle. She had known then that they were there on behalf of the monster. At first she had toyed with idea of just killing them there and then; executing them as traitors to humanity, but then she had decided that perhaps they could lead her to her true prey.

When they had first gone into the cabin Janet had stealthily crept from her hiding spot in the woods to place a GPS tracker under their car, barely making it back in time before the dark haired girl came out again to retrieve the tarpaulin.

Janet had then waited for them to finish their task and leave. She knew better than to follow them directly. They would be on the look out for a motorbike. Instead she glanced at the screen of her tracking device to check that it was working (it was) and then she waited.

After an hour she set off on her bike, following the tracker.

It took her to Staten Island and a mansion located by the water with grounds big enough to contain its own forest and, quite probably, a lot of in-house security. What was the monster doing in there?

This was going to need a little more planning than a lone frontal assault and perhaps a little help too.

Fortunately Janet knew just who to call.


	14. Fourteen

Maddy’s father had been brought in and laid out on a bed in one of the many spare bedrooms of Veronique’s mansion. Natasha and Zoe had taken care to unwrap the tarpaulin before bringing him in and had called ahead, prior to their arrival, to ensure that Maddy could be suitably distracted while her father’s body was being brought in. That had been Wanda’s cue to whisk Maddy off to her bedroom so that she could show off her wig collection.

Once the body had been moved from the tarpaulin and onto the bed Natasha used a little of her necromancy to repair some of the decomposition that had set in since the night before. Together, she and Zoe had then stripped off the corpse’s clothing and redressed it in the suit that they had brought from the cabin. By the time they had finished Maddy’s father looked as if he were just lying on the bed in peaceful slumber and not dead.

While this was going on Maria the Mermaid accepted a delivery of a coffin that Veronique had ordered. She supervised the two delivery men as they wheeled the beautiful mahogany box into the large spacious room that Veronique used very rarely for parties and other such private functions. They set the coffin down upon the long table at the end of the room and took Maria’s signature for the delivery, but unfortunately for them, failed to secure her phone number.

Veronique herself came up from her subterranean quarters to carry the body of her old friend in her arms, as if he were just a baby, and set him down gently within the coffin. All the curtains upstairs were drawn so that she would remain safe from the late afternoon sun.

She looked down at her old friend and smiled sadly.

“I think it’s time for Madeline to say goodbye now.”

Maria left to fetch Maddy.

 

After her bath Maddy had been faced with a choice of clothes to put on that Wanda had brought for her from Maria’s closet. Maria was the closest to Maddy’s size and build and, for someone who rarely wore them, she was also the owner of the most clothes.

Maddy had stood in her room, with only a towel to cover her nakedness, and sifted through the selection as Wanda stood to one side.

One of the items that Maddy held up was a slinky little black dress with spaghetti shoulder straps. She turned a sardonic smile towards Wanda.

“Did you pick this out for my benefit or yours?” she drawled cheekily and was happy to see a dark blush creep into Wanda’s ebony complexion.

“We’re going to be burying your father once Natasha and Zoe return. That dress is the most funereal item that Maria owns. I thought I’d at least give you the option.” Wanda explained.

“It’s lovely.” Maddy admitted, “And maybe I’ll wear it for you one day, but I don’t think it’s quite appropriate for now.”

Wanda’s blush deepened at the thought of Maddy wearing the dress for her, one day.

Maddy eventually settled upon a pair of faded blue jeans and a white T-shirt with a cute glittery kitten’s face emblazoned across the chest area. She allowed the towel to drop to the floor, enjoying Wanda’s reaction to her sudden nudity. Maddy wasn’t toned, but was pleasingly round in a way that only years of take away pizza and other junk food could make you, and Wanda’s eyes widened as she watched the young girl pull on her selected clothing.

A wry smile crept upon her face as she watched Maddy tug the T-shirt down over her globed breasts, the glittery kitten staring back at her impassively.

“ _That_ is appropriate for a funeral, but the black dress is _not_?” Wanda remarked.

“Daddy would love it.” Maddy smiled back, and it was her turn to blush.

It wasn’t long after that when Wanda had received notice that Zoe and Natasha had returned and she had dragged Maddy off to look at her wigs.

The two of them were having fun trying on the different hair pieces (Maddy’s snakes did not take too kindly to being encased in so much hair) when Maria walked in to tell them that everything was ready for the funeral ceremony.

Wanda took Maddy’s hand and squeezed it reassuringly.

“Are you sure that you are ready for this, little Maddy?” she asked.

“As ready as I’ll ever be.” Maddy replied. “Will Natasha be there?”

Wanda was a little puzzled as to why Maddy would be so specifically interested in Natasha’s presence.

“We will all be attending your father’s funeral.” She answered.

Maddy nodded and smiled.

Still holding onto Wanda’s hand she allowed herself to be led away to see her daddy once again.

 

Wanda took Maddy into the room where her father lay. At the one end there was a long table upon which sat the open mahogany coffin that contained her father’s body.

Chairs had been set out for everyone attending and in front of the coffin there was a podium behind which someone could stand in order to deliver a speech. Or a eulogy.

Natasha and Zoe were sat together on the left hand side of the room and Maria crossed to sit with them. On the right hand side Veronique sat, with two empty chairs beside her, clearly meant for Wanda and Maddy.

Slowly they walked down the centre of the room. Everyone had their heads turned, watching them, faces looking suitably saddened and aggrieved.

Wanda whispered a few words of encouragement to Maddy before peeling away from her to sit next to Veronique.

Now all on her own, Maddy approached the podium. From her current vantage point she could now see her father’s face inside the coffin, eyes closed as if he’d merely climbed into the box for a quick nap. He looked so smart and handsome in his suit. Maddy remembered when he had told her that was the suit he’d worn when he’d married her mother. Natasha and Zoe couldn’t have known that, so it must have been a happy accident on their part. Maddy smiled at her father before turning to take her place on the podium.

She looked out at the five new faces before her. Veronique, the beautiful and amazing Wanda, the ethereal Maria, Zoe and finally… her last hope… Natasha.

“You all think that I have come in here to say goodbye to my daddy.” Maddy began with a smile that belied the occasion. “But you’re all wrong. I have come in here to say hello again.”

These words were met with furrowed brows of puzzlement from all assembled. Wanda frowned and prayed that this was not heading in the direction that she feared.

Maddy turned her radiant smile upon Natasha and Wanda’s heart sank. In the same instant the necromancer realised why she had been singled out.

“No, no, no, no, no… this will not work!” Natasha exclaimed, shaking her head and rising out of her seat.

“Please, Natasha.” Maddy pleaded, the smile gone as if it had never been there, her eyes brimming with unshed tears. “If you can do it for Zoe then why not for my daddy?”

“Zoe was freshly dead when I found her.” Natasha explained desperately, “Her soul had not yet departed. For your father it is different. He has been dead longer time. His soul will be long since gone.”

“You don’t know that!” Maddy cried and the tears came flooding down her cheeks.

Wanda stood up, but restrained herself, with a supreme effort, from stepping any closer. All she wanted to do was take Maddy in her arms and comfort her, but this was something she would have to suffer alone… at least for the moment.

“Please, just try?” Maddy begged, “Please.”

“Understand, Maddy. If I bring back your father and his soul is not there then it will not be your father that comes back.” Natasha continued, and now she too was crying. Zoe was standing behind her and stroking her arms soothingly. “He will just be an empty shell with an unstoppable craving for flesh and blood. Is that what you would want? He would not hesitate to attack you. He would not know who you are!”

“I have to take that chance.” Maddy replied, “Please. One way or another I have to know if it’s possible. If I can have my daddy back.”

For along time there was silence except for the violent sobbing from both Natasha and Maddy.

Zoe continued to console her girlfriend.

“You don’t have to do anything that you don’t want to do.” She told Natasha gently, but the glare that she threw at Maddy was anything but.

Maddy met her gaze unflinchingly. Pleading and silently apologetic.

“I will do it.” Natasha said in a quiet voice and she raised her head to look at Maddy, “But remember that I warn you.”

She stepped away from Zoe and began to walk towards the open coffin until she was standing over it, looking in at the dead man inside.

Maddy joined her.

Natasha raised her hands and held them out over the prone form of Maddy’s father.

To Maddy’s untrained eye it didn’t look like anything was happening and already she was getting the sinking feeling that this venture was doomed to fail. She was half expecting to see blue lightning shoot out of Natasha’s fingertips and into her father’s body, but nothing at all seemed to be occuring.

Then…

“I do not believe it.” Natasha uttered in quiet astonishment. “Your father’s soul… it is still here.”

Maddy almost laughed out loud with relief.

“Then that means you can bring him back?”

“I can.” Natasha nodded, “But remember, if I do this then your father will need to eat fresh, bloody meat for the rest of his existence, just to keep from rotting and falling apart. Zoe has come to terms with this, but it was something that took a long time for her to get used to. For a long time she hated me, even as she loved me. Would you wish this upon your father?”

Maddy looked at Natasha with earnest, fresh tears welling in her eyes.

“I just want my daddy back.”

Natasha sighed.

“Very well.”

She reached into the pocket of her shorts and took out a flick knife, a wickedly sharp, silver blade springing out at the touch of a button.

Natasha held her left hand over the head of Maddy’s father and began to intone words in Latin.

Maddy gasped and shuddered involuntarily as she watched her father’s mouth slowly open, as if bidden by the ominous chanting.

Then with her right hand, holding the knife, Natasha sliced open the palm of her left – something that she must have done before as Maddy noticed the scarring for the first time – blood immediately welled up from the slit and began to drip downwards… into the open mouth of Maddy’s father.

As the blood passed his lips and ran down his tongue and into the back of his throat the result was almost instantaneous… his eyes flicked open and he suddenly sprang, bolt upright in the coffin, breaths coming in ragged gasps from his formerly dormant lungs.

“Daddy!” Maddy exclaimed and she immediately threw her arms around him in a warm embrace. “It’s okay now. I saved you. I brought you back. I asked Natasha and she brought you back.”

Her father recognised her instantly and returned the embrace, but looking over Maddy’s shoulder as she sobbed into his, he found himself unmistakably drawn to the blood that continued to pour from Natasha’s hand. He screwed his eyes shut with an enormous effort to tear his mind back to his daughter… God the smell was so enticing…

“I’m… I’m so glad that you’re safe, Maddy.” He managed to say, he opened his eyes and focussed his attention upon Veronique, to whom he offered a grateful smile. “And that you found Veronique.”

He pulled away from Maddy and looked at her as she smiled at him through her tears.

“She gave you the contact lenses.” He observed, “I’m so glad that I got to see them.”

“We can stay here together now, daddy. Veronique has room for the both of us… don’t you, Veronique?”

Veronique simply nodded, but didn’t say anything.

Maddy’s father smiled at her sadly.

“I’m sorry, Maddy, but I’m not staying.”

Maddy didn’t understand.

“You’re going back to the cabin?” she replied incredulously. “But, daddy… what if the killer comes back?”

“No, Maddy, I mean that I’m not planning on staying alive.”

Maddy looked at her father as if he had grown an extra head with warts and horns.

“What the fuck are you talking about, daddy?”

“Watch your mouth, Maddy… I’m still your father. Just listen and I’ll explain.”

“Why wouldn’t you want to stay with me?” Maddy wept.

“Because…” he wanted to cry too, but his tear ducts would not function, the pain, however, was evident in his voice as he tried to find the words to say, “Your mother is here, Maddy. She’s been waiting a long time for me. She’s… she’s sad that I had to come to her like this, but… but now that I’ve found her again and I know that she’s waiting for me… I can’t just leave her alone again, Maddy. I can’t. She’s… she’s your mother.”

“Mommy’s here?” Maddy said quietly. “Can I see her?”

Her father looked around the room and stopped when his gaze fell upon a particular spot just a few feet behind Maddy.

“She’s here, but I’m not sure if you can see her.” He pointed and Maddy turned to look at the empty space that he indicated.

“I can’t see her daddy.” Maddy said, almost in a panic, “Can she hear me?”

He nodded. “She can.”

“I miss you, mommy!” Maddy called to the empty space. “I know I was only little when you died, but I remember how you used to sing me to sleep everynight. Have you been lonely? Waiting for daddy this whole time?”

“She says that she has found comfort in being able to watch you grow up to become a beautiful young woman. And that’s exactly what you are now, Maddy… a woman. You don’t need your silly old dad anymore.”

Maddy looked at him. “I’ll always need my daddy.”

“But your mother needs me too, pumpkin.” Her father told her. “Now that I know she’s there I can’t just leave her. But I want you to know that when I go we’ll both be watching over you together.”

“Is this really what mommy wants?” Maddy asked tearfully.

Her father smiled sadly. “Truthfully? Your mother is screaming at me right now to stay with you and take this second chance that I’ve been given, but I only hung around this long in the hopes that I might somehow manifest myself as a ghost so that I could say goodbye. That… that didn’t really work out for me.”

Maddy giggled despite herself.

“I wish I could have seen you trying to be a ghost.”

“Believe me, honey… that was not something you wanted to see.”

He turned his attention to Natasha.

“I’m ready to go now.”

“Daddy?” Maddy sobbed gently. “Don’t give up trying to be a ghost… and mommy too. It would be nice to see you sometimes.”

“We won’t give up, I promise.” He assured her.

After one last embrace he lay back down in the coffin and composed himself, eyes closed.

Natasha stepped up once more. Zoe had wrapped a handkerchief around the wound in Natasha’s hand to stem the blood flow, but even so, as the Russian necromancer held out her hands over Maddy’s father one final time, the tantalising smell that still wafted through the makeshift bandage was all, but irresistable. With a supreme effort Maddy’s father was able to resist the urge to grab the bloodied hand and feed from it.

Natasha spoke a series of Latin words in a hushed tone. Maddy’s father stiffened and his mouth opened in a gasp… a semi-transparent orb of pale yellow light arose out of the open mouth before dissipating into the air like fairy dust. Then Maddy’s father’s mouth closed once more and all semblance of life was extinguished.

Maddy leaned into the coffin one last time and hugged him tightly, her tears staining his shirt.

“Goodbye, daddy. I’ll look for you and mommy together.”

Wanda finally went to her and enfolded her in a warm embrace. Maddy smiled gratefully and leaned into Wanda.

“I’m done now.” She sniffed and allowed Wanda to lead her out of the room.

 

Later after the sun had gone down, Veronique dug the grave for Maddy’s father personally, beneath a weeping willow at the edge of her forest. She carried the coffin outside and lowered it in, and then took her time recovering it. When the time was right she would order a headstone and let Maddy write the epitaph to be carved upon it. Maddy would be free to come out here and talk with her father whenever she wanted.

Tomorrow would be the start of a new chapter in the life of Madeline Konstantinos and Veronique vowed that she and her friends would be there to see her through it.


	15. Fifteen

In the years that she had spent trying to track down Maddy, Janet Sterling had discovered that she was not alone. There were others out there who knew about the existence of monsters and dedicated their lives to hunting and exterminating them. Many of them had stories similar to Janet’s; loved ones who had been murdered or corrupted in some way by these inhuman abominations.

Janet had not been surprised to learn that there were other monsters out there. If Medusa was real then why not vampires, werewolves and other such creatures as well?

One such hunter had found her, one day, six years ago and initiated her into the world of monster hunters. Many of these creatures were so powerful that it sometimes paid to have a little backup to help in killing them, and Janet had accompanied several hunters on such kills in the last six years. In return they had helped her in her search for the spawn of Medusa.

Now she found that she needed some of that backup herself. When she had phoned her contact she had mentioned the name Veronique Bouton, whose number she had seen at the creature’s lair, to see if it was familiar to him at all. It had been.

Apparently this Veronique was a centuries old vampire who had gone off the grid before the start of the twentieth century. Many believed her to be dead. Her contact had warned her that if a vampire was involved then she would definitely need some extra firepower and he had given her the names and numbers of several ‘experts’ in the New York area.

Janet had called them all and had organised a rendezvous to plan strategy at a bar in New Jersey. She now sat in that bar with five other people (three men and two women), and was currently filling them in on the situation as it stood.

“So let me get this straight.” Said Michelle Collins, a petite brunette in her mid-thirties who had come along with her husband and hunting partner, Wesley, a broad shouldered African American with elegant corn rows in his hair, that looked like he could bench press a hippopotamus without breaking a sweat. They had come highly recommended for vampire extermination. Apparently, their teenage daughter had been turned by one, seduced by the romanticism of vampirism perpetuated by movies and books like _Twilight_. They had been forced to kill her when she had come after them in a blood crazed frenzy. The couple had harboured a personal vendetta against all vampires ever since. “You want our help in infiltrating a possible vampire coven that you believe is harbouring a gorgon?”

“I don’t know that it’s a coven.” Janet replied, “I’m only aware of the one vampire, this Veronique Bouton. The other two women I saw were out in the daytime, which is impossible for vampires, right?”

Wesley nodded.

“So, I don’t know what, if anything, they were. They could be humans collaborating with the vampire, or they could be something else entirely.” Janet continued. “That’s why we need to run recon at this mansion so that we can build up some kind of idea of what we’re going to be going up against?”

“It’s entirely possible that this Veronique has human servants that do her bidding during the day.” Michelle conceded. “But we don’t know how many. She may have her own private army in there for all we know.”

“Which is why we need to do this reconnaissance mission.” Janet reiterated. God, how many more times must she repeat herself?

“What did you have in mind?” asked the tall, lanky vampire slayer with the leather jacket, jeans and untidy tangle of long grey hair. His name was James Cordell and he was currently halfway through smoking his fifth cigarette since they had all come together. He had lost a fiance to vampires that had gatecrashed the bachelor party the night before they had been due to get married.

“I was thinking that I would drop in on the house tomorrow, pretending to be a delivery person, or something. With any luck they’ll let me in and I can scope the place out without arousing any suspicion.” Janet explained.

“That all sounds grand.” Said Connor O’Rourke. He was a stocky blonde, bearded guy in a white ‘wife-beater’ vest and jeans who looked like he’d just stepped out of a _Die Hard_ movie poster and sounded like an advertisement for _Lucky Charms_ cereal. “But won’t the gorgon recognise you if she sees you? You did, after all, murder her daddy right in front of her.” He was an ex-Royal Marine who had done two tours in Iraq. During one night of drunken debauchery he had been picked up by a female vampire who had been looking to make a meal out of him. Connor had survived the encounter and taken up vampire hunting afterwards as a lark.

“It wasn’t murder. I was executing a traitor to humanity.” Janet riled angrily, “And besides, I was wearing my motorcycle helmet when I killed him, so she won’t know my face, and obviously I won’t be wearing the same clothes.” She assured them.

Connor raised his hands placatingly.

“Alright, love, don’t get your titties in a twist!” he leered, “And what’s to stop you from plugging the gorgon right there and then if you do see her in the house?”

“To be perfectly honest I’ll be surprised if I do see her.” Janet replied. “They’re hardly likely to have an abomination like a gorgon walking around the house where it could be seen by anyone that drops in or passes by.”

“Aye, you have a fair point there.” Connor conceded.

“Perhaps I should come along with you on this reconnaissance mission?” Linda Chang suggested. She was the last of the vampire hunters that had been recommended to Janet; a slender, Chinese-American with the cold, dead eyes of an assassin that looked all the more scary for the fact that they peered out from such an attractive and harmless looking exterior. Very little was known of her backstory, though rumour had it that Linda had actually been raised as a vampire hunter by her parents and had known little else for her entire life. Killing vampires was like breathing to her. “We could pose as electricians that are doing routine checks in the area.”

“Not to be disrespectful, darling, but if you’re going to be posing as electricians then perhaps it should be two of the men who go in there?” Connor said in a tone that suggested that he knew that he _was_ being disrespectful, despite his protestation to the contrary.

“Are you implying that women cannot be electricians, Mr O’Rourke?” Linda replied, fixing her dead eyes upon him.

Connor flinched under her gaze and swore under his breath.

“No, not at all.” He managed to stammer out.

Linda smiled, but the expression did nothing to bring warmth to her eyes and only served to make it look like she would kill you and enjoy doing it.

“Good. Then I guess that’s decided.” She said, then she turned those eyes upon Janet. “Assuming of course that you have no objections to my tagging along?”

“None whatsoever.” Janet agreed. “Two sets of eyes are better than one.”

“Great. I’m glad we’ve sorted all that out.” James declared, “Now who’s gonna join me in getting wasted?”


	16. Sixteen

Wanda had taken Maddy straight back to her new room after the funeral ceremony had ended. She had helped Maddy to pick out a pair of pyjamas to change into (pink, with little white bunny rabbits on them) and had tactfully turned away while the young gorgon had stripped and put them on. Once she had finished changing Maddy tapped Wanda gently on the shoulder. She had also taken out her new contact lenses and put back on her shades that Wanda had rescued for her from Veronique’s pedal bin.

“You can look now, I’m finished.” She smiled, “Though you really didn’t have to look away. It’s not like you haven’t already seen me naked.”

Wanda turned around, “Well, don’t you look adorable in those pyjamas.” She was reminded that Maddy really had a foot in two worlds; still only a sheltered child who had only known the cabin and her father, but she had also grown into quite the hottie.

Maddy giggled and blushed a little; her snakes did a little swaying dance of excitement. She was trying to be brave, but her body shuddered and a tear maddeningly escaped, running down her check and she angrily wiped it away. More hot tears followed.

Wanda pulled her close, and rocked her gently.

“It's okay, my beautiful girl, you cry.” She held her as she sobbed for a few minutes, waiting until Maddy stopped shaking. She then thumbed away the few remaining tears, with a concerned smile. “Do you want me to stay with you tonight?”

At that suggestion Maddy blushed, and made a stumbling apology.

“I’m sorry about the whole kissing you thing earlier. Looking back on it now, it probably wasn’t the most super appropriate thing for me to do under the circumstances.” She said quietly.

“Maybe not, but as I said then, I do understand why you did it.” Wanda assured her with a warm smile. “And I'm more than flattered. But you've been riding an emotional roller-coaster since everything that’s happened, you need time to settle.” She brushed a snake off Maddy's face, the little reptile, curling around her finger, appearing to signal its approval. “Now, little Maddy, I suggest that you try to get some sleep. You’ve had a long day. Unless you’d like anything to eat first?”

Maddy shook her head.

“No, I don’t think I could eat right now.” she faltered here, unsure how to continue, suddenly shy again. “Could you just cuddle me for a while?”

Wanda smiled broadly.

“Of course, Maddy.” She answered, “But I’d better fetch my pyjamas.”

Wanda normally slept naked, but she was sure that she could find something to sleep in.

“Will you be okay for a few minutes?”

Maddy nodded. “Yeah, sure.”

“Okay, let's pop you into bed.” Wanda led her across the room to the large bed.

It looked warm and comforting with clean, white linen sheets. Wanda was leading Maddy by the hand and their fingers lingered, clasped together, before Wanda started fussing, turning down the sheets and pumping the pillows. “I’ll be back in about five minutes, okay?” She asked after Maddy had slipped into the welcoming bed.

The young gorgon looked so young and vulnerable Wanda's heart contracted with tenderness. Maddy nodded with a watery smile.

“Don't be too long.”

Wanda brushed the snakes off Maddy’s forehead again, and they preened against her hand affectionately. “I won't.”

And so Wanda left to fetch her nightwear.

When she tiptoed back into the room she was wearing a rather fetching pair of black cotton shorts and a figure accentuating grey T-shirt.

Maddy thought that she looked stunning, but then Wanda would probably look good dressed in just a bin bag.

She pulled the sheets down and Wanda quickly settled herself next to her, laying on her back and opening her arms, allowing Maddy to snuggle down into her chest. Once her back was to Wanda, Maddy removed her shades and placed them on the cabinet beside her.

She then reached out and turned off the bedside lamp. Maddy smiled contentedly in Wanda’s arms, enjoying her warmth as Wanda stroked her back, and kissed the top of her head and Maddy fell into a deep, healing sleep.


	17. Seventeen

When Maddy had turned thirteen years old her father felt that she was old enough to hear about the night her mother had died. He waited until the day after her birthday to sit her down and tell the story of that terrible night.

Maddy sat and listened as her daddy recounted the details. Of how the bullets had come smashing through their front window at their isolated Greek island home and killed her mother instantly. How he had fled with Maddy in his arms before the same fate could befall them. He had taken her to their boat and sped away from the island and never looked back.

“But why, daddy?” Maddy wept into her father’s chest as he hugged her tightly. “Why would someone want to kill mom?”

“I can’t be certain,” her father had answered tearfully, remembering that night had been hard on him too, “but I think I have some idea why it may have happened.”

Maddy pulled away from her father slightly and looked at him expectantly.

“A year before you were born there was an accident.” Her father began. “You see, where your mother and I lived we had a little secret tunnel at the bottom of our garden that led down to the beach at the foot of the cliff. Your mother and I would often use it when we wanted to visit the beach. That little crescent of sand was secluded from the rest of the island. No one could get to it, but we could, and it was our little private spot. It’s entirely possible that you were conceived on that beach…”

“Eww, Dad! Too much information!” Maddy protested, managing a weak smile through her tears.

“I’m sorry, sweetie, that was really inappropriate of me.” He apologised before continuing his story.

“One day your mother went down to the beach for a walk, but when she got down to the cave that the tunnel opens into she discovered that some tourists using jetskis had stumbled upon our beach and were using it. One of them, a young man, was in the cave when your mother came out and before she could do anything… he looked at her. Your mother hadn’t been wearing sunglasses. Why would she? She hadn’t expected to meet anybody…”

“The man was turned to stone?” Maddy said, though she could already guess the answer.

Maddy’s father nodded.

“But that’s not where it ends. The man had been there with a woman and she came into the cave and saw what happened. She had been wearing sunglasses, so she didn’t turn to stone. I remember your mother telling me about how the woman became enraged as soon as she realised that she was safe… had picked up a stone and meant to attack your mother, if she hadn’t fled through the cave’s concealed exit. Your mother came straight to me and told me what had happened. We went straight down to the beach, but we took the boat, rather than the tunnel. I somehow managed to get the man’s statue onto the boat, and the jetski, then I took them out as far away from the island as possible and threw them both overboard. The statue sank like a stone because… well… that’s what it was, but I had to tie rocks to the jetski and puncture the hull so that it would sink to the bottom. I’m not proud of what I did, but I did it to protect your mother, and I hoped that would be an end to it. Gods help me, but it was not. I don’t doubt that it was probably that same woman that killed your mother, in revenge for what happened to the man.”

“Is that woman the reason why we have to be hidden in the woods like this?” Maddy asked.

“We’re out here, Maddy, for your own protection. As far as the people out there are concerned there are no such things as monsters. If anyone knew of your existence there’s no telling how they’d react. It’s much safer for you here with me.” Her father assured her.

“Safer for them too.” Maddy said sadly, “No one can get turned to stone if they don’t even know I exist.”

“I wish that was our only concern, because we can control that. You have your glasses and one day Veronique will have your contact lenses ready. If I could be sure about how other people would react to you then I’d have no fears about letting you out into the real world.” Her father told her.

Maddy hugged her Dad and her snakes tickled against his chest.

“I love you, daddy.”

“I love you too, sweetheart. And who knows, maybe one day the world will be the kind of place where humans and monsters can co-exist together peacefully.”


	18. Eighteen

Maddy awoke the next morning, before Wanda, taking the time to slip on her shades before spending a few minutes enjoying her companion’s warmth and closeness. In the silence she took the time to examine her feelings, propping herself up on one elbow so that she could watch Wanda as she slept.

Wanda really was beautiful, with an amazing body. Her skin was soft and velvety and she smelt great, like sun and sea breezes, fresh with the scent of happy times and holidays.

Maddy realised, with not a little embarrassment, that her hand had fallen upon Wanda’s firm breast. It must have happened whilst she had been asleep. Before she knew what she was doing Maddy felt her thumb graze the tip of Wanda's nipple through the thin material of the T-shirt that she wore. It hardened to her touch.

Maddy paused, her eyes widening a little in a sudden panic, but Wanda's breathing stayed the same.

Feeling suddenly emboldened Maddy continued to caress the breast, her thumb flicking the nipple more insistently. The nipple was now rock solid and Maddy noticed that there was a slight tickling sensation from within her own body; her breathing had quickened and her own nipples had hardened. Blood was rushing to her groin.

Maddy was now seriously tempted to try and lift Wanda’s T-shirt so that she could take a proper look at the breast. Maybe even lick the nipple, or put it into her mouth.

As she was debating on how best to do this Maddy flushingly became aware that Wanda was awake.

“You certainly seem a little brighter than you did before.” Wanda noted with a wry smile. “I can think of worse ways to be woken up.” She added with a laugh at Maddy’s furiously blushing features and lifted herself up so that she could give her a deep, tender kiss on the lips. “There'll be plenty of time for us. No need to rush anything.”

She shifted slightly and pulled Maddy on top of her so that they were laying face to face.

“How are you feeling this morning?” Wanda asked.

Maddy thought for moment, enjoying the closeness of Wanda's embrace, knowing she would understand.

“Being able to say goodbye to my dad helped… a lot. I don’t regret asking Natasha to bring him back. It was one of the hardest things that I’ve ever had to do, but I’m glad that I did it.” Maddy explained. “Then there’s the fact that my freaking mom was there too. Just knowing she’s around somewhere is oddly comforting in a way. And who knows, I may get to see them again as ghosts some day.”

“I’m happy that you were able to take something positive away from the experience.” Wanda said.

She was enjoying how comfortable and at ease she felt with Maddy.

Suddenly, a look of panic spread across Maddy’s features and she looked about her, as if searching for someone invisible.

“Mom, Dad? I hope you haven’t been watching everything I’ve been doing in here?” she called out.

The thought that her parents may have been watching her attempt to make out with Wanda was too embarrassing to even contemplate. Geez, she might as well go ahead and sell popcorn!

Wanda chuckled.

“I’m sure that your parents will know when to exercise discretion, little Maddy.” She assured her.

Maddy seemed to visibly relax at this reassurance.

Wanda gave her another gentle kiss and Maddy felt tempted to caress Wanda's breast again, but her stomach had other ideas, letting out a loud growl.

Wanda laughed, which caused her chest to jiggle provocatively. Never before had Maddy been so torn between the prospects of either food, or sex.

As if she had read Maddy’s mind, Wanda saved her the trouble of having to decide.

“We have all the time in the world for _that_ , my little Maddy. For now, what do you say to breakfast in bed?”


	19. Nineteen

Breakfast in bed was toast, eggs, sausages and bacon for two, with a pot of fresh coffee. During Wanda’s absence to the kitchen, Maddy took the time to put in her contact lenses. The whole concept of sticking her fingers voluntarily into her eyes was still alien to her and Maddy found herself marvelling at the fact that she hadn’t poked her eyeballs out with her fumbling efforts. It didn’t help that her hands were trembling almost the entire time. Maddy realised that she was excited to be alone with Wanda in the bedroom and the butterflies in her stomach competed furiously with the hunger pangs that had already taken residence there.

Even so, despite her worst efforts, Maddy succeeded in getting the lenses in. She had only just flung herself back on the bed, laying in what she hoped was a nonchalant, devil-may-care fashion, when Wanda returned with the breakfast tray.

Wanda’s reaction to the sight of Maddy’s intense amber eyes looking up at her from the bed was worth all of the effort that Maddy had gone to.

“I am in love with your eyes, little Maddy.” Wanda said as she sat down, planting a kiss on Maddy’s lips as she did so. “It is a crime that you ever had to hide them.”

“I’ll never hide them again, if I don’t have to.” Maddy blushed, “I need to get used to wearing the contacts anyway, but the fact that you love them is incentive enough to always wear them from now on.”

“I feel blessed that you would feel that way.” Wanda replied. “Now, can I interest you in any of these fine fried delicacies?”

Maddy looked down at the proffered breakfast, snakes dancing with anticipation, and began to tuck in immediately, murmuring her thanks through a mouthful of toast.

Wanda chuckled warmly and began to eat too. As she sat there enjoying the breakfast, Wanda barely took her eyes off Maddy. Her heart swelled at the sight of her. She was truly a breath of fresh air and Wanda feared that she had been intoxicated by her. They had known each other for such a short time and yet Wanda already felt an intense bond with Maddy. At first she had thought it to be maternal, but there was nothing even remotely maternal about the way that she saw Maddy now. The desire to love and protect her was strong, but there was also something sensually exciting about Maddy… those blazing eyes, the writhing, organic vibrancy of her snakes, those soft, full lips and the enticing curves of her body. And Maddy seemed to be equally enamoured by her. Whatever happened next, however, had to be on Maddy’s terms. As exciting as Wanda found her to be, she could not allow herself to be ruled and dictated by her own desires. She would be there for Maddy in any capacity that she required, that much Wanda knew for certain. She could not do otherwise.

Wanda was so enraptured in Maddy that she was not paying full attention when a rasher of bacon fell off the end of her fork and became ensconced between her breasts. Wanda’s dark complexion coloured slightly with embarrassment.

Maddy noticed right away and eagerly leapt upon the opportunity that this situation presented.

“Here, let me get it for you…” Maddy set down her plate and leaned over, her face moving closer to Wanda’s chest.

Wanda tensed ever so slightly, her heart hammering inside her as she momentarily forgot how to breathe.

Maddy’s hot breath caressed Wanda’s skin and then with an almost dainty precision she plucked the rasher of bacon up between her teeth. When Maddy pulled away again half of the bacon still protruded from her mouth, and her face was only inches from Wanda’s.

Wanda could barely suppress her smile. Maddy looked like an adorable snake-haired puppy dog with its tongue lolling out.

Without a second thought, Wanda leaned in and took the other half of the bacon into her mouth. They both began to chew and then chewing evolved into passionate French kissing. Their lips pressed together, tongues entwined, exploring and tasting, until finally they came apart, breathless and wanting more.

“That was just like that scene from _Lady and the Tramp_.” Maddy smiled shyly, her chest rising and falling in excited anticipation.

“Which one am I?” Wanda asked with a teasing smile.

“Does it matter?” Maddy threw back with a wicked gleam in her amber eyes.

“Not really.” Wanda shrugged.

“I’m finished with breakfast now.” Maddy announced, “Can we do _that_ again and see where it takes us?”

Wanda let out a happy sigh of contentment. “I thought you’d never ask.”

And then the gap between them closed rapidly and their lips came together again.

Somehow Wanda managed to pick up the two plates and set them on the cabinet at the side of the bed, and then she lowered Maddy, still very much kissing her, so that her snakes fanned onto the pillow beneath her; the little reptiles were wriggling in excitement.

Wanda’s lips moved from Maddy’s and travelled to her neck, placing hot, butterfly kisses upon her skin.

“Oh gods! Oh gods!” Maddy breathed; her hands were on Wanda’s hips, caressing her dark, velvety smoothness beneath the T-shirt. What she really wanted to do was lift the T-shirt up and over Wanda’s head to expose those breasts and finally get a proper look at them, maybe even put one of them in her mouth.

Meanwhile, Wanda did not seem to share Maddy’s hesitancy and her own fingers were already nimbly unfastening the buttons of the fluffy bunny pyjamas. As the last button came undone Wanda pulled the pyjama top open and exposed Maddy’s breasts.

Wanda was straddling Maddy now and she took a moment to gaze upon her young lover: Maddy lay underneath her, looking up, eyes wide with excitement and anticipation, the snakes writhing upon the pillow; her lips were parted as she panted, chest rising and falling with each excited breath, puffy pink nipples erect. She was so beautiful.

Maddy gasped as Wanda’s eyes became amber wolf-like slits, but she still trusted implicitly that she would come to no harm.

Wanda smiled and lowered her head to Maddy’s left breast, enclosing her mouth entirely around the raised nipple, sucking on it.

Maddy squirmed and moaned softly, her eyes rolling back into her head. The warm, wetness of Wanda’s mouth around her breast sent shivers through her unlike anything she had ever felt before. Maddy never wanted it to end… and yet at the same time she longed to do the same to Wanda and create the same feelings in her… to pleasure her as she was now being pleasured.

With this thought in her mind, Maddy began to tug Wanda’s T-shirt upwards…

…and then the doorbell rang.


	20. Twenty

Maddy emitted an exasperated moan of frustration as Wanda’s mouth abruptly vanished from around her nipple. She had succeeded in getting Wanda’s T-shirt half-way up, but hadn’t quite exposed the dark round breasts that she longed to look upon and taste for herself.

“Let someone else answer it!” Maddy pleaded, still slightly breathless from the excitement and pleasure of only moments before.

“I cannot.” Wanda frowned down at her apologetically and with genuine regret. “I am responsible for the security in this place. I have to see for myself who that is, but I promise to come right back as soon as I can and we can pick up again where we left off. Is that a deal?”

Maddy squirmed underneath Wanda, a grumpy grimace twisted upon her beautiful face and even her snakes snapped and hissed as if they too shared her frustration.

“I guess so.” She grumbled, pulling her pyjama top closed around her to cover her breasts. “You’d better hurry back!”

Wanda bent her face to Maddy’s and kissed her long and deep on the mouth, her tongue stirring and probing with sensual promise.

Maddy practically melted into the bed, her whole body just seemed to relax as if her soul had left it and she felt that if she opened her eyes in that moment she would find that she was floating above the bed, looking down on Wanda kissing her.

When Wanda came up again, Maddy opened her eyes and was rewarded with that beautiful, dazzling smile that she had come to love in such a short space of time, it stole away any breath that she had remaining in her body.

“How am I supposed to stay mad at you after that?” Maddy somehow managed to blurt out.

“I guess you can’t.” Wanda teased and then she climbed off of Maddy and left the room quickly.

 

The doorbell had rung three more times in the time it had taken Wanda to kiss Maddy goodbye.

Technically it wasn’t really a doorbell. Before any visitors could get near the door they had to be buzzed through the main gates. There was an intercom connected to a CCTV monitor that enabled Wanda to see who was waiting to be let inside and communicate with them if need be.

On her way to the intercom Wanda ran into Maria who, as usual, was naked.

“You weren’t planning on answering the door like that were you?” Wanda teased.

“The door, no, but I don’t need clothes to answer the intercom and buzz in whomever is out there.” Maria fired back with a smirk and a raised eyebrow.

“I’ll go and do that.” Wanda assured her, “Could you go and keep Maddy company for me? I left her alone in her room.”

Maria bowed her head.

“Of course.”

“Thank you, Maria. I’ll be back as soon as I can.” Then Wanda was gone.

Maria altered her course and set off to pay Maddy a visit.

Meanwhile, Maddy, as soon as Wanda left, had decided that she would make herself ready for when she eventually came back. She sat up in bed and shrugged off her pyjama top, balling it up in her hands before flinging it across the room to land on the floor. Then she wriggled her way out of the bottoms and sent them flying too. Maddy then clambered, naked, under the covers, pulling them up around her, though leaving her breasts exposed so that they would be just sat there in plain view as a tantalising invitation to Wanda when she returned.

She had barely finished composing herself when there came a knock upon the door.

“Wow, that was fast!” Maddy mumbled, an anticipatory smile stealing upon her face.

She took a moment to check that her breasts were suitably positioned for the desired effect before answering. Oh gods, this was really going to happen.

“Come in!”

The door opened and Maria the Mermaid slid into the room in all her naked glory.

Maria took one look at Maddy lying naked in bed with her breasts above the covers and her eyes widened in surprised amusement.

“Oh my!” she exclaimed.

For Maddy’s part she suddenly sat bolt upright and tugged the sheets up so that her nudity could be covered, her face burning with embarrassment, snakes waving in all directions as if they too were trying to find somewhere to hide.

“Y-You’re not Wanda!” she proclaimed in a high pitched squeak.

“How very perceptive of you.” Maria teased, showing no hint of discomfort, indeed, after closing the door behind her she walked over and sat down on the end of the bed.

Maddy was staring hard at the far wall, not wanting to see Maria’s gorgeous nude body.

“I thought Wanda said you weren’t into girls.” She said.

“I’m not.” Maria confirmed, “I’m not here to have sex with you. Wanda sent me to keep you company while she attends to our unexpected guests.”

“And you decided to come naked?”

“Is there any reason I shouldn’t have?” Maria wondered. “Nudity is not the taboo among my people that it is for humans. Don’t you find that there is an indescribable freedom in being naked?”

“I’d never really thought about it,” Maddy confessed with a shrug, her eyes darting briefly to the side to look at Maria, but returning to the wall when that glance rewarded her with nipples. “I’ve never really liked wearing a bra, so it’s always nice to be able to take that off. And then there’s the glasses I always had to wear when I was growing up. Now that I have these contacts that Veronique made for me it feels so liberating not to have to wear the shades anymore… so I guess I kinda see what you’re talking about.” A shy smile crept onto her face and she allowed herself to relax a little.

“Would I be correct in assuming that your little display of flesh was intended for our resident werewolf?” Maria asked.

“Maybe.” Maddy replied and she felt her blush prickle back to the surface.

“I know that we haven’t known each other all that long, Maddy, but can I give you a little friendly advice?” Maria ventured.

Maddy turned the full impact of her stunning amber gaze upon Maria and she offered a half smile.

“Of course, what is it?” This was good. She was maintaining eye contact and this wasn’t weird in any way at all. Nuh-uh!

“Wanda has a side to her that you’re not going to be aware of, so I feel it’s only fair that I should warn you.” Maria began.

“What? Does she turn into a werewolf during sex, or something?” Maddy gave an involuntary shudder, “I guess that might be weird, but I could get used to it…”

Maria smiled indulgently.

“That’s not it.” She replied, “Perhaps if you’d allow me to finish?”

Maddy didn’t think it were possible to turn an even deeper shade of red than she already was, but somehow she managed it.

“Go on…” she squeaked.

“When Wanda introduced you to Veronique, did you notice anything about how Wanda acted in front of her?” Maria asked.

Maddy thought back to that first meeting.

“Come to think of it, there was something about the way Wanda reacted to Veronique…” Maddy recalled, “It was a little bit like how I reacted the first time I saw you… like there was an attraction there. They were a bit like an old married couple, like those ones you see on TV.”

“Very perceptive, young Maddy.” Maria smiled.

“You’re the same age as I am!” Maddy smirked with a raised eyebrow, “Wanda told me.”

Then something occurred to her.

“Wait, they aren’t… are they?”

“Aren’t what?” Maria asked guardedly.

“A married couple? Wanda and Veronique don’t have a thing? Is Wanda cheating on Veronique by being with me?”

“Not at all. You are free to do what you want with Wanda… but you wouldn’t be the first of her… conquests.” Maria replied.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Maddy demanded, “Wanda is older than me, so I’m not naïve enough to believe that I’m going to be her first sex partner.”

“Yes, and you probably won’t be her last either.” Maria went on, “Wanda has a habit of using girls to try and make Veronique jealous… you see, she’s in love with her, but Veronique only loves her science. I do not think that she has known romantic love for a very long time. Not for hundreds of years.”

Maddy felt like she’d been punched in the stomach.

“I don’t believe you… Wanda’s not like that!”

“Isn’t she? How would you know?” Maria challenged, “How do you think Wanda found out that I’m not into girls? She tried to seduce me when I first moved here and she probably would have put the moves on Natasha and Zoe too if they weren’t already a couple.”

Maddy felt hot tears prickling at the back of her eyelids. No… she refused to cry again.

“You’re lying!”

“Why would I lie, Maddy?” Maria asked reasonably. “Ask Wanda yourself when she comes back. I’m truly sorry if I’ve hurt you… it was not my intent, but I felt that you had a right to know.” She moved in to try and hug Maddy, but the young gorgon recoiled from her, accidentally allowing the covers to drop and expose her upper body.

“Don’t touch me!”

Maria scooted back tactfully.

“I’m sorry, Maddy.” She repeated.

Maddy recovered her composure a little and pulled the covers back around her.

“No, I’m sorry. I guess you’re only trying to help, but if you don’t mind I think I’d like to be left alone now until Wanda comes back.”

“As you wish.” Maria nodded and she stood up. “I hope that eventually we can be friends, Maddy?”

Maddy just nodded and so, with nothing further to say, Maria left the room, closing the door behind her.

As soon as Maria had left Maddy got out of bed and began to get dressed.

 

When Wanda reached the little security cubicle located near the front door she glanced at the CCTV monitor to see two women dressed in matching overalls. One was an Asian who was glancing up at the camera with her dead, serial killer’s eyes, while the other was caucasian. The dead-eyed Asian was carrying a tool box.

Wanda allowed herself a wry smile before pressing the intercom button to speak to them.

“Can I help you two ladies?” she asked, trying to keep the amusement in her voice in check.

“We’re here from the electrical company.” The caucasian woman answered, offering up a sincere and warming smile to the camera, “We’ve had some reports of random blackouts in the area and our boss wants us to go door to door so we can run some routine check-ups. Is it all right if we come in?”

“Can I see some ID?” Wanda asked.

Without hesitation both women reached into the top breast pocket of their overalls and produced plastic photo-ID passes that they flashed towards the camera.

Wanda examined the two passes, manipulating the zoom-in of the camera so that she could inspect them more closely.

Both passes proclaimed that Janet Goulding and Linda Wong were electricians for the local electrical company that supplied to Veronique’s mansion.

“Probably fake.” Wanda muttered to herself before pressing the intercom button again. “Okay, you can come in.” She pressed the button that would allow them through the gate and watched as the two ‘electricians’ let themselves inside.


	21. Twenty-One

Janet and Linda smiled at the beautiful, bald black woman who answered the door to them, though Linda’s smile did not reach her eyes.

“Thanks for letting us in.” Janet gushed and she hoped that she wasn’t being too over-the-top, “Do you live in this big house all by yourself?”

Before Wanda could answer, Maria chose that moment to glide gracefully down the stairs, still very much nude. She offered a smile to the assembled ladies before continuing on her way in the direction of the kitchen.

“Does that answer your question?” Wanda beamed at the two ‘electricians’ whilst wondering why Maria had abandoned Maddy.

“Which way to your fuse box?” Linda asked bluntly. She had been taking in her surroundings; all the different entry and exit points to the hallway. So far no signs of any visible security or anybody else at all for that matter, but this _was_ a big house. It wouldn’t pay to become complacent and cocky.

“It’s in the pantry in the kitchen.” Wanda replied coolly. “Follow me and I’ll take you there.”

Wanda led them off in the same direction that Maria had gone.

Linda maintained her analysis of the house’s layout as they walked. There were plenty of places to hide in this building and probably within the grounds outside too. The element of surprise would be a key factor in ensuring that their targets would not have time to hide when it came time to attack.

When they reached the kitchen there were two other women sitting at the table, eating breakfast with the naked woman who had greeted them in the hallway. Janet remembered them from her surveillance of the gorgon’s cabin the previous day. From the way that they played footsie beneath the table, Janet surmised that these two were a couple, just as she was sure that the black woman and the naked Amazon were bumping uglies too. It seemed like they’d walked into a harem for beautiful lesbians. Perhaps they were all lovers to the vampire, Veronique?

“Is this all of you?” Linda wondered as she took in everyone assembled.

“I don’t see how that’s any of your business.” Wanda replied, “The fuse box is in the pantry over there.”

Linda regarded Wanda with her dead eyes, but the werewolf did not flinch. With a cold smile the Asian vampire slayer stalked over to the pantry that Wanda had indicated.

“Actually, would you mind if I used a bathroom?” Janet asked with what she hoped was an embarrassed smile, “Shoulda gone before I left the office I guess, but I suppose that’s what I get for drinking three lattes on the way here.”

“I’ll take you.” Wanda replied, “You girls watch our friend here.” She spoke to Maria, Natasha and Zoe before indicating that Janet should follow her.

Linda, meanwhile, had opened the pantry and was now pretending to examine the fuse box.

 

Wanda led Janet through the house, making sure to keep an eye on her in case she tried to wander off.

There were several bathrooms to choose from in Veronique’s abode, six of them on the ground floor alone, but the nearest one to the kitchen took them within spitting distance of the elevator down to the basement level. Wanda noted Janet’s interest in the lift as she directed her to the bathroom.

“What’s down there?” Janet wondered with feigned curiosity.

“Are all electricians this nosy?” Wanda asked back and she gestured towards the door of the bathroom meaningfully.

Janet narrowed her eyes at Wanda, whilst somehow maintaining her professional smile. She went into the bathroom.

Of course, Janet did not really need to use the bathroom. It had just been a ruse to get to see more of the house. They had not encountered any more people along the way and so Janet felt that it was reasonable to assume that they’d met them all. The gorgon was no doubt secreted in a room somewhere where it would not be seen and the vampire more than likely slept during the daylight hours. As Janet examined her reflection in the mirror before her it occurred to her that the closely guarded secret of the mysterious elevator may be the fact that it led right down into the vampire’s resting place. She doubted whether she would get the chance to go down and take a look. This was something she’d need to discuss with Linda and the others once they were finished here.

Feeling that she had pretended for long enough, Janet sauntered casually over to the toilet and flushed it. She then washed her hands, dried them and exited the bathroom.

An awkward silence accompanied Wanda and Janet as they returned to the kitchen.

Linda seemed ready to leave when they got back. She was standing in front of the pantry, smiling as though she wanted to kill everyone in front of her, which, to be fair, she probably did. Her tool box was in her hand.

“I think we’re done here.” She informed Janet. “Everything seems to be working perfectly.”

“I’ll show you out.” Wanda replied bluntly.

Once Wanda had left with the two ‘electricians’ the three remaining girls all looked at each other and broke out in a fit of hysterical laughter.


	22. Twenty-Two

“So, we’re all agreed that those two were totally not electricians, right?” Zoe sniggered. Some of the merriment had died down since Wanda had returned to the kitchen, but the overall tone amongst everyone gathered was still mostly amusement.

“Most definitely.” Wanda nodded. She was leaning against one of the work counters, arms folded and eager to get back to Maddy, but this situation needed to be addressed first. “I think it’s safe to say that we just met whoever killed Maddy’s father…”

“My money is on Chinese girl.” Natasha said with a sardonic half-smile. “She practically has serial killer tattooed on forehead.”

“Well, as blatant as they were, we still have to contend with the fact that they obviously plan to attack us. Possibly tonight, so we have to be ready.” Wanda replied and now she was all serious business. “We don’t know when they’re going to come or how many there will be, but one thing we do have on our side is that they don’t know what we are. Let them come. They will not have it easy. I will speak to Veronique, but first I should also speak to Maddy. She has a right to know that her life could be in danger.”

Wanda made to leave, but Maria slid out from behind the breakfast table and joined her.

“I thought I asked you to keep Maddy company?” Wanda said with a raised eyebrow.

“Promise you won’t hit me?” Maria smiled sheepishly.

Wanda’s eyes narrowed darkly, and her smile creased into a frown.

“What did you do?”

Maria squirmed with embarrassment.

“Well, you know how you’re gonna tell Maddy something that she deserves to know for her own good…?” she began.

“Spit it out, Maria.”

“I kinda told Maddy something else I felt she had a right to know.” Maria finally admitted.

Wanda processed this information as she allowed it to sink in, working out exactly what Maria was referring to.

“How did she take it?” she finally asked.

“Not well.” Maria confessed. “I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be.” Wanda’s smile returned, “You are right. Maddy did have a right to know and it should have come from me. Would you believe me if I told you that Maddy is different to all those other girls? There is just something about her that has captivated me in a way that no other has done before. It’s beyond protective instinct. I think I may be falling for her.”

“If that’s the case then I’m happy for the both of you.” Maria replied. “Now go to her. She needs you right now.”

 

When Wanda walked into Maddy’s room she found the young gorgon lying on top of the freshly made bed, fully clothed in jeans and one of Maria’s T-shirts.

She tried not to let her disappointment that Maddy was no longer half naked show, smiling as she walked over and sat on the bed.

“You know, when all this is over we really should take you out and see if we can’t buy you some new clothes of your own.”

Maddy didn’t return the smile, which was a very hard thing to do considering how much she loved Wanda’s smile and how infectious it was.

“When were you planning on telling me that you’re just using me to try and make Veronique jealous?” she got right to the point, no sense in beating about the bush.

Wanda sighed, resigning herself to the conversation that she was about to have.

“Maria warned me that she’d told you about my past… indiscretions.”

“Is that all they were to you? Indiscretions? Is that all _I_ am to you?” Maddy demanded.

“What can I say, Maddy? Maria is right, I did used to play the field with other women in the hopes that it would illicit some kind of response from Veronique, because I used to be in love with her.” Wanda told her.

“Used to be?” Maddy raised a dubious eyebrow, “I saw the way you were around her in the laboratory when you first took me to meet her.”

“Well, of course I still care about her!” Wanda protested, “And I’ll probably always have some kind of feelings towards her, that sort of thing never truly goes away, but I promise you that my days of trying to win her affections are long over. I don’t believe she ever even knew about any of those other girls, despite what I intended. It’s very hard to try and get someone to notice you when they can barely see what’s going on around them. Veronique is immersed in her own little world. She very rarely steps out of her laboratory, or even sets foot up out of the basement levels if she absolutely doesn’t have to. You were very honoured indeed that she saw fit to attend your father’s funeral!”

Wanda visibly recoiled at this, as if she was repelled by her own bitterness.

“I’m sorry.” She continued after a moment, “I’m being very unfair to Veronique. She is the sweetest and kindest soul that you could ever hope to meet. How else could I have fallen in love with her? Everything that she does is in the service of others and stems from her desire to help other people. She dreams that one day humans and ‘monsters’, like us, should be able to co-exist together, without conflict and animosity. Nothing else matters to her and she dedicates her every waking moment to that cause. As such she has very little time for something quite so trivial as love or romance.”

“I’m sorry.” Maddy said quietly and she held out her hand, which Wanda accepted gratefully, squeezing it. “My dad had a similar dream about monsters and humans living in peace. He wanted nothing more than for me to be able to live a normal life among the humans without fear of discrimination or retribution. It’s kind of nice to know that there is someone like Veronique that exists and who is trying to make that dream a reality. It can’t have been easy for you to fall in love with someone so driven and single-minded.”

Wanda smiled sadly.

“It wasn’t, but I have found it in my heart to love again.”

Maddy’s brow furrowed in puzzlement and her snakes contracted into tight coiled bunches.

“Surely you don’t mean me?” she said in disbelief. “We only met, like, yesterday. You can’t have fallen in love with me so quickly?”

“Can’t I?” Wanda replied with a smile. “Love works in mysterious ways. You and I have spent an awful lot of time together in the last twenty-four hours or so, and in that time I have come to know a sweet, innocent and vulnerable young woman, who is both funny, charming and beautiful… if I may be poetic, you are the rarest of rare flowers that has bloomed despite great adversity, an orchid that has flourished in the most barren and desolate of wastelands. My heart was a wandering and lost butterfly before I met you and I have found a new sense of purpose since you came here. To deny that I love you would be to deny breathing itself.”

“So, erm, my orchid saved your butterfly?” Maddy smirked with a raised eyebrow.

Wanda giggled and squeezed Maddy’s hand harder.

“It does not do well to poke fun at someone when they are baring their soul to you, my little Maddy!”

“I’m just kidding, Wanda.” Maddy replied and then her tone became quieter, more sombre, “That was actually kinda beautiful. And, erm, I’m sorta new to all of this, but I… um… I think I might just love you a little too.”

“Just a little?” Wanda teased.

Through all of this, Wanda and Maddy had unconsciously moved closer and closer together until their faces were just inches apart, instead of replying, Maddy responded by touching her lips to Wanda’s. The two of them melted into each other, their earlier passions reignited, but before things could get too out of hand Wanda reluctantly tore herself away from her beloved Maddy and held her at arms’ length.

“Much as I’d like to take this further, we have more pressing things to discuss.”

“What could be more important than us right now?” Maddy protested like a petulant teenager.

“Oh, only the fact that your life is in danger and we need to prepare ourselves for an imminent attack before it’s too late.”

Maddy’s eyes widened and her snakes quivered with anxiety.

“Okay, you have my attention.”


	23. Twenty-Three

Janet and Linda had reconvened with the other hunters in the same bar that they had met in the previous evening. They had just finished explaining to the others what they had learned from their little recon exercise.

“So, basically what you’re saying is that you saw four women, whose combat capability we cannot even begin to try and ascertain; no signs of visible security otherwise, but also no ideas as to where our target is being held.” Connor summarised with not a little sarcasm, “It’s a big fucking house. They could be keeping her anywhere. She could even be in a panic-room that we’d have no hopes of ever getting into. Then there’s that lift you said you saw which goes down into God only knows where, and you _think_ that the vampire might be down there, but you’re not sure. For all we know they could be keeping the gorgon down there and that’s where all the security is. You’ve basically told us fuck all that’s of any use!”

“Well, when you word it like that!” Linda replied coolly.

Janet remained silent. She couldn’t exactly argue because he was right, they had nothing.

Attacking the upper levels of the house that they had seen would be easy, but if their targets took refuge in the lower levels then she and her compatriots could potentially be entering a death-trap.

“Surely if everyone took refuge down in the lower levels, wherever that lift goes down to, all we’d have to do is open the lift shaft and drop a load of explosives down there. Even if the explosion didn’t kill them all outright, they’d be trapped down there and basically as good as dead, am I right?” James chipped in, as if he’d somehow been reading Janet’s thought process.

“Don’t be daft!” Connor chided, “Do you really think they wouldn’t have an emergency exit down there that they could use in case something like that happened. Jesus Christ, there could be a whole shit load of tunnels under that house that run all the way fuck under to the Statue of Liberty for all that we know!”

“It’s unlikely,” Linda replied, “but not impossible, I suppose.”

“So, what are we going to do?” James persisted, “I have good solid intel from one of my sources that we’ll be going up against at least one werewolf in there!”

All eyes turned to James at this little revelation.

“And why are you only just mentioning this now?” Linda asked with a look almost as deadly as Maddy’s petrifying gaze.

“I only just got around to it, didn’t I.” James replied defensively.

“How good is this source of yours?” Janet wondered.

“As solid as they come.” James assured her, “He’s a hunter like us, except he lives on the streets, protecting homeless people from the monsters. Apparently, he saw the girl when she first arrived on the island, only he didn’t know what she was when he saw her. She was wearing a hood and sunglasses, covering her eyes and her snakes, or so her says, and I’ve got no reason to disbelieve him. The crowd he was with were going to rape her when she stopped to ask them for directions. He was going to intervene and save her but didn’t have to in the end because she was saved by the timely intervention of a werewolf.”

“What happened?” Janet asked.

“The werewolf chased off the vagrants and then returned to collect the girl (she’d been knocked out during the altercation). My man watched the wolf return to human form and carry the girl away.” James answered her.

“If your friend is like us then why didn’t he kill the werewolf when he saw it?” Linda wondered.

James chuckled humourlessly.

“I asked him the same thing myself.”

“And what did he tell you?” Connor asked.

“The stupid bastard’s got it into his head that not all monsters need killing. Says that because the werewolf saved the girl and did it without killing any of the vagrants he gave it a free pass and let it go.” James replied.

Connor shook his head. “Attitude like that is gonna get the stupid fucker killed one of these days, I’ll tell ya for nothing.”

There was a general murmur of agreement from all assembled.

“Did he happen to describe what the wolf looked like in its human form?” Janet wondered.

James went on to describe a tall, Amazonian black woman with no hair, and Janet looked at Linda, who nodded back at her.

“We saw a woman like that at the house.” Linda confirmed.

“So, at least one of them is a werewolf.” Connor accepted, “We just go in tooled up with silver ammunition, job done. Now that we know _what_ we’re going to be killing them with let’s discuss _how_ we’re gonna get in there to do it.”


	24. Twenty-Four

A war counsel of a very different kind was being held in Veronique’s laboratory.

Wanda had wanted to hold it in the kitchen, but Veronique had vetoed that idea because it was day time and the sun was out and not even the suggestion of blacking out the windows had swayed her.

“We haven’t the time for such frivolities.” She had insisted. “We don’t know when this attack could come.”

“Which is precisely why we shouldn’t all be down in the lower basement!” Wanda had argued.

So, here they all were in the lower basement, gathered around an empty work desk in the laboratory. Maria had even dressed for the occasion in some particularly stylish combat fatigues.

“Why are we down here again?” the mermaid wondered. “What if they decide to attack while we’re all down here?”

Wanda fixed Veronique with a meaningful glare which the vampire chose to ignore.

“They’re hardly going to attack us in broad daylight, my dear Maria.” Veronique answered patiently.

“I’m sorry, but I disagree.” Wanda spoke up, “If they know that they have at least one vampire to contend with then during the daylight hours would be the most logical time for them to attack as they would assume you to be sleeping.”

This time Veronique couldn’t ignore her, and she turned her deceptively youthful face towards Wanda.

“Is this going to turn into another one of your lectures about me not sleeping enough, because I have told you enough times…”

“This has got nothing to do with that!” Wanda interrupted.

“Girls, please!” Maddy cut in. “Can we not fight amongst ourselves? We’re supposed to be deciding on how we’re going to defend ourselves against this supposedly imminent attack.”

Wanda threw an apologetic look at Maddy and even Veronique looked thoroughly ashamed of herself and averted her gaze to a minute crack in the surface of the desk.

“Well, couldn’t we just hide down here?” Zoe suggested. “If we cut the power to the lift they wouldn’t be able to follow us down here, and even if they did figure out a way to come down there’s only one entrance that can easily be defended.”

“And what’s to stop them cranking open the elevator doors so that they can drop a ton of explosives on us?” Maria pointed out, “Even if we didn’t all get blown into tiny little pieces we’d be stuck down here, possibly forever, or at least until Veronique became overwhelmed by incredible bloodlust and feasted upon us all.”

“I’d sooner stake myself through the heart than feast upon my friends!” Veronique protested in horror.

“What about _my_ insatiable bloodlust?” Zoe put in.

“Girls, I think we’re straying, ever so slightly, from the point here.” Wanda remarked pointedly, her fingernails had dug into the top of the desk in her frustration and Maddy noted that they had elongated into claw-like points. The young gorgon caressed Wanda’s forearm soothingly. Wanda took a few deep calming breaths and her claws gradually retracted to normal nails once more.

Veronique was looking at her werewolf friend expectantly. She had observed the momentary lapse, they all had, but she did not pass comment.

“You are in charge of matters of security here, Wanda. What do you think we should do?” the vampire asked instead.

“As things stand we don’t know when they will come.” Wanda replied. “They could come in the day, or they could come tonight. They may not even come until tomorrow, but one thing that we can be certain of is that they _will_ come.”

“So, how can we be ready?” Natasha wondered.

“All of you, except little Maddy, know that Veronique has given me free reign when it comes to the security of our home. In all the time that we have lived here we have known peace, but we all knew that it would not last and that a day like this would come eventually. Over the years I have added little hidden security measures around the house. Some of them you will know about, and some of them you will not. Whenever our enemies do decide to attack they _will_ have to come inside the house. And when they do we have the means to take them down.” Wanda assured them all.

“If I may, there is but one thing that I _must_ stipulate!” Veronique insisted.

“And what would that be?” Wanda had to ask.

“If at all possible you are not to kill any of them, do you understand?”

Everyone, Maddy included, looked at Veronique as if she had just suggested that they all strip naked and have an orgy.

“They will have guns and will be trying to kill us.” Wanda proclaimed. “It’s kill or be killed!”

“One of those fuckers is responsible for murdering both of my parents!” Maddy riled venomously. “They do _not_ walk out of here in one piece, Veronique!”

For a moment Veronique was silent. She could not well argue with Maddy’s desire for vengeance.

“We take them alive,” she spoke up at last and there were shouts of protest all around her, but she continued on heedless of their ire, “ _if_ we can. Once we have subdued them we will identify the one responsible for the murder of Maddy’s parents and Maddy will be free to mete out her justice as she sees fit. That is only fair, but the other’s _must_ be allowed to live, if at all possible. _If_ I am serious about my desire to bring peaceful co-existence between humans and monsters, then we must show those who would hunt us that we are capable of mercy. They will be stripped of their weapons and allowed to leave in peace. Am I understood?”

“And what is to stop them coming back with more people and more weapons?” Natasha asked.

“It’s a chance I’m willing to take on the road to peace but speaking of chances… they will only get one.” Veronique answered firmly. “If they do decide to come back, _then_ we will kill them.”


	25. Twenty-Five

A little later, after the meeting had ended and they’d all parted their separate ways, Wanda had decided to take Maddy on a tour of the house to show her the various secret security modifications.

“I do not like the idea of keeping you up here where you’ll be exposed to the most danger.” Wanda had confessed, “But it would not be fair to keep you locked up in the lower levels indefinitely when we do not even know when this attack will come.”

“I appreciate that. Thank you.” Maddy had smiled and stood on her tiptoes to kiss Wanda on the lips.

The kiss had lasted a little longer than she had intended and when they had finally parted a look of mutual, unsated desire passed between them.

“You know, when this attack comes…” Maddy faltered slightly and looked down at her feet, “I could die… _you_ could die. We haven’t… well… you know… and I don’t want to die a virgin…”

Wanda silenced her by kissing her again, and this time when they came apart she caressed Maddy’s cheek and looked into her amber eyes.

“I’m not going to let you die and I am very hard to kill.” Wanda assured her with a smile. “Any scenario that does not end with these hunters neutralised is not worth considering so far as I’m concerned. We will win, and we will survive, and after that I promise you that I will take you back to your room, or mine, and I will…” she leaned over and began to whisper in Maddy’s ear.

Maddy’s eyes widened as she listened, and her cheeks turned pink, the corners of her mouth twitching into a smile and even her snakes squirmed in excitement.

“Wanda! I didn’t even think that you knew words like that!”

Wanda just giggled and embraced her Maddy tightly.

 

Maria’s ‘bedroom’ was not like any other that a human, or indeed a humanoid, would sleep in.

Yes, it had a vast walk-in wardrobe full of clothes for those occasions where Maria saw fit to wear any; it had a TV, dresser-drawers, mirrors and other paraphernalia that you’d expect to see in any typical bedroom. What it didn’t have was a bed.

In the centre of the room, where you would generally expect a bed to be, there was instead a little swimming pool. Maria preferred to sleep submerged underwater. In fact, she needed to because Maria was only able to remain on dry land, in her human form, for up to twelve hours before her skin would begin to dry out and crack. Therefore, her personal indoor pool-bed was a necessary luxury. It was also why her bedroom was located on the ground floor.

At present she was stood inside her walk-in wardrobe, in front of one of the many full-sized mirrors that adorned the walls. She had taken off her fatigues and was once more in her natural, nude state.

If any of the attackers were men, then her body was her greatest weapon. Many humans confused mermaid legends with those of the ancient Greek sirens, bird-like women who lured unwary sailors onto the rocks with their enchanted singing. However, the _Siren Song_ was indeed a potent magical weapon taught to all young mermaids as a form of defence against humans, should the need ever present itself. It primarily worked on men but could be targeted at women too… especially if they were that way inclined.

Maria didn’t specifically _need_ to be naked for the enchantment to work, but it certainly aided the process exponentially.

As she stood in front of the full-length mirrors admiring her natural assets Maria smiled and felt pity for any men that she would encounter when the attack finally came.

 

Natasha and Zoe had gone out.

“I can’t see why you couldn’t have just gotten the guy to deliver them to the house?” Zoe complained as they sat in the car waiting for their contact to come out.

They were parked out the back of the local Animal Control office who employed and regulated most of the city’s vermin exterminators.

“Sometimes it’s just good to get out of the house for a while.” Natasha replied. “You know I don’t always like being cooped up inside.”

“How did you get this guy’s number anyway?” Zoe wondered.

“I look him up in Yellow Pages, how else?” Natasha winked at her girlfriend and flashed her a sardonic, sideways smile.

Any smile from Natasha had a way of turning Zoe’s insides to jelly and almost served to help her forget that she was feeling cranky. She probably just needed to feed again and was still feeling disappointed that she wasn’t going to be allowed to eat any of the attackers when they came.

“Well, I hope he doesn’t keep us waiting too long.” Zoe grumbled, “We don’t want to be late for the imminent attack.”

Natasha sat up straight in her seat and pointed towards the rear exit of the building.

“Hold your horses, _lapochka_. Here he comes now.”

A short, stocky, balding guy in blue overalls came waddling out carrying three full trash bags. He spotted Zoe and Natasha as they got out of their car and made his way over to them.

“Did you bring what I ask for?” Natasha wondered.

“I ain’t just hauling these for fun, sweet-cakes.” The man replied, “Did ya bring the money?”

Natasha pulled out her wallet and counted out fifteen $20 bills, handing them over to their contact.

“Three hundred. Just like we agreed.”

The man set down the bags and inspected the wad of bills.

“All seems legit to me. The bags are yours. We woulda just dumped ‘em in the incinerator anyways.” He grinned.

Natasha ripped open one of the trash bags and examined the contents, pulling out one of the dead rats that was inside. She nodded her head in satisfaction, tossing the rat back into the sack before picking up the three bags and carrying them round to the trunk of the car.

“Aren’t you going to ask us what we want them for?” Zoe wondered whilst simultaneously trying not to think about what he might taste like.

“So long as yer money’s good I couldn’t care less!” the man replied. “You’d be surprised some of the requests that I see in this job. Pleasure doin’ business with ya.”

And with that he turned on his heel and walked away counting his money.

After the sun went down Veronique exited the lift, after having rode it up from her subterranean domain, unseen by any of the others. She was not in her usual attire, but dressed all in black, rather like the stereotypical depiction of a Japanese ninja. There was even a sword slung across one shoulder, though not one with a lethal blade of steel, but one that was made of bamboo, for it was a _shinai_ sword, commonly used for practice in the kendo martial art. Veronique had attained her black-belt in this skill over a century ago, during some time that she had spent in Japan. She may not have been willing to kill those that threatened her charges, but that was not to say that she wouldn’t hurt them if she had to.

Once outside Veronique stood on the steps that led up to the front door. She jumped backwards, a seemingly innocuous gesture if not for the fact that when she landed again, Veronique now found herself perched on the roof of the house with a bird’s eye view of the surrounding area. Her night-vision was excellent, and her hearing was preternaturally enhanced to a level where she could hear the heartbeats of everyone in the house if she desired to do so; over by the east wing of the building she detected movement, but it was just a stray cat that had wandered onto the grounds.

Veronique settled herself into a meditative crouch and waited to see what the night would bring.


	26. Twenty-Six

The Hunters’ own war council had moved from the bar into the motel room where Janet had been staying since her arrival on Staten Island. Linda had managed to draw up a Google Maps aerial overview of Veronique’s mansion and they were all crowded around her laptop looking at it.

“See here, where her land backs onto the water?” Janet was saying, “It’s the only part of the perimeter that isn’t covered by that wall. We could get a boat and gain entrance to Veronique’s estate that way.”

“That sounds great, Janet.” Connor replied, “But where are we going to get a boat? And even if we do get one, we’d have to slog our way through that forest before we got anywhere near to the house.”

“The forest would be the perfect cover.” Janet countered, “They would never expect us to come in from that direction.”

“And the boat?” Connor persisted.

“I can get us a boat.” Linda assured them.

Janet nodded her approval.

“So, here’s what we’re going to do; we’ll ride the boat onto the beach behind the house and make our way through the forest. Once we’ve made it through we wait…”

“Wait for what?” James wondered.

“I was getting to that.” Janet cut her eyes at him before continuing, “We wait until an hour before sunrise. By that time the vampire will still be up but will be getting ready to retire for the daytime. That’s when we’ll hit them.”

Here Linda took over, drawing their attention away from the laptop to the array of weapons that were laid out upon the motel room’s solitary bed.

“Silver isn’t cheap, but I was able to get six 9mm silver bullets for each of us. That’s thirty-six bullets between the six of us. If we need any more than that then we’re boned anyway. The bullets are loaded into six Magnum revolvers with enough stopping power to blow a werewolf’s freakin’ head off.”

“Does silver work on vampires too?” Janet wondered, she had never been on a vampire hunt before.

Linda shook her head.

“Sunlight will kill them, but we can’t rely on that. Chances are that the whole house is rigged to keep out the sun if need be. Only other sure ways to kill a vampire are piercing the heart with anything made of wood, or beheading.”

“That’s what the crossbows are for.” James informed Janet.

Janet noted that the crossbow bolts were all wooden tipped.

“There’s also a couple of machetes for whoever wants one, to behead the vampire if you get close enough, though truth be told… if you let it get that close to you then you’ll already be dead.”

Janet realised that most of this was for her benefit since everyone else here had already hunted and killed vampires many times before. She picked up a couple of round metal balls with circular rings inserted into the top of them, not unlike the ring-pull on a can of soda.

“Are these what I think they are?” she asked with an incredulous raised eyebrow.

“Smoke grenades laced with wolfsbane.” Linda told her. “We’ll sling a couple of these through the windows before we go in. The smoke will reduce their visibility and the wolfsbane will prevent the werewolf from being able to shift into her animal form, as well as considerably weakening her. If more than one of them turns out to be a werewolf then obviously it’ll affect them too.”

“And what if those other girls you saw are just regular people?” James wondered.

“Then the bullets and crossbow bolts will kill them regardless.” Linda answered in a cool and dispassionate tone that made it clear that the thought of killing fellow human beings did not bother her in the least.

James turned away from her cold, soulless gaze, but otherwise said nothing.

“Okay,” Janet took control once more, “You’ll all, of course, remember to wear your night-vision goggles at all times. Not only will they help us see, but they’ll protect you from the gorgon’s gaze as well. If you do see the gorgon though, do not engage… she is mine!”

Everyone murmured their agreement.

“We’ll be splitting up into teams of two.” Janet continued, “James and Connor will go in the backway, Michelle and Wesley, I want you both to gain access to the upper floors and work your way down, while Linda and I will go in the front way. Any questions?”

There were none.

“Everybody tool-up and let’s get going.”

 

They all drove together in James’s van to the South Beach, on Linda’s instruction, as this was where she told them that they could acquire a boat. It was after midnight when they got there and there was no one actually on the beach, not even any couples taking moonlit strolls or using the deserted strip of sand for more amorous pursuits. The boatyard was also quiet and there was no sign of a security guard on duty, and so the six hunters walked down the jetty unchallenged as Linda singled out a speedboat that could seat them all. Once they were all onboard the chosen boat and it had been untethered from the side, Linda hotwired the engine and calmly steered them out of port as if they were all just off on a midnight cruise. As soon as they were far enough out on the water Linda turned the boat and they were off in search of Veronique’s private beach.

“So, how will we actually know when we get to Veronique’s specific piece of beach?” James voiced the question that had no doubt crossed everyone else’s minds too.

“Ever heard of GPS co-ordinates?” Linda shot back at him, and it was strange to hear sarcasm coming from her usually cold, nigh-on emotionless intonation. “I downloaded them from the Google Maps and they’re now programmed into my iPhone, which will let us know when we get close.” As she spoke she nodded her head towards the phone that was perched upon the dashboard of the speedboat, displaying where they were, in relation to where they were headed.

James peered at the little screen with almost slack-jawed reverence.

“I never could get my head around all this Sat-Nav technology bullshit.” He muttered only half to himself, “I’d be worried about us driving into the fucking river if we weren’t already on a boat.”

“Maybe we’ll wind up taking a wrong turn onto some rocks instead.” Connor chuckled. “Hey, I don’t suppose it’s one of those ones that sounds like Homer Simpson every time it tells you to take a turn, now is it?”

Linda just regarded him coldly with her serial killer eyes and said nothing, but a ripple of laughter went around the other assembled hunters, even Janet.

The remainder of the boat ride passed in relative silence until the GPS on Linda’s phone signalled their arrival and Linda turned in towards the shore.

As the boat drew nearer they saw a short wooden pier at the edge of the small beach with a medium sized luxury yacht tethered to the side. Presumably this belonged to Veronique. The presence of the pier was fortuitous for the hunters as it gave them somewhere to moor their own boat without having to come in too close to land.

James jumped out before the engine had even stopped running and used a rope to tie off the boat.

Everyone else got out once this was done and they all strode purposefully along the pier towards the small strip of sand that made up Veronique’s private beach.

Just beyond that was the forest that they would all have to traverse before they got anywhere near the house. Janet had brought along a compass. So long as they kept heading north they could not get lost and she hoped they could make good time and reach their final destination in keeping with her planned schedule.

“I hope that werewolf isn’t already in here waiting for us.” Connor grumbled as they disappeared beyond the tree line.

No one had an answer to that, but fortunately they made it through in just under an hour and a half.

The house now stood silhouetted before them in the moonlight. One dash across the grounds and they’d be within striking distance.

Janet glanced at her watch.

“It’s two thirty-five now. Sunrise is at five thirty, which means we attack at four thirty.” She said quietly. “That gives us two hours waiting time. I’d get comfortable if I were you.”

“Good thing I brought these then, innit?” Connor beamed as he produced a pack of glow-in-the-dark playing cards from the chest pocket of his bomber jacket. “Who’s for a round or two of poker?”

“Put those away!” Janet hissed, “If someone was to look out the window they’d spot those things a mile off!”

“Not if we play just inside the woods so that the trees are hiding us, they won’t.” Connor smirked as he stepped demonstratively back into the darkness of the forest. “Ye don’t have to play if ye don’t want to, love.” His voice carried out of the blackness.

James was the first to join him, but soon the others followed suit… even Linda.

Janet rolled her eyes, but then with a shrug she too joined them and told Connor to deal her in.

The poker game did indeed serve to make the time pass quicker and in that time Linda had practically cleaned them all out of any cash that they had been carrying to the point where Connor, the game’s instigator, had quit within the first hour.

Janet glanced again at her watch whilst Linda was stuffing her latest winnings into the inside pocket of her leather jacket, her face just as cold and unreadable as it ever was.

“It’s nearly time.” Janet said. “Let’s pack this up and get going. You all know what you’re supposed to do?”

Everyone nodded.

Janet stood up and drew her Magnum, cocking it for dramatic effect.

“Then let’s go and do it.”

 

As the hunters prepared to make their move they were blissfully unaware that their arrival had already been spotted by Wanda on the hidden security camera that watched Veronique’s boat. They were walking into a den of monsters who were more than prepared for what was coming.


	27. Twenty-Seven

The six hunters made their way quickly, but quietly from the seclusion of the forest treeline through the luscious grounds of Veronique’s gardens towards the looming monolith of the house, which looked even more like the Addams’ Family residence in the dark than it did in the daytime. Not one of them spared a single glance at the swimming pool as they passed it. Instead, as they neared the house, they broke off into their agreed pairings and set off to carry out the plan. Such as it was.

Janet and Linda set off to the west, making their way around so that they could begin their attack from the front of the building.

Husband and wife team Wesley and Michelle took out a grappling hook and slung it up to the topmost turret of the house. The hook wedged itself onto the sill of a top floor balcony and Wesley tested his weight on it to check that it was secure. Once he was satisfied he stepped aside and made a silent ‘ladies first’ gesture to his wife. Michelle threw him a look that said, ‘if there’s a vampire waiting at the top for me, I’m going to kill you’, before taking hold of the rope and beginning her ascent. Wesley smiled to himself. He and his wife had done this particular dance at least a dozen times before. If there was a vampire waiting up there then he was confident that she could handle it. Once she had reached the top, Michelle signalled down that it was clear and Wesley climbed up after her.

That left Connor and James to carry out their attack from the rear. They had just found a backdoor that seemed to lead into the kitchen from what they could see through the window at the top of the door. Inside appeared dark and empty, but then that wasn’t unusual considering the time of day.

“I don’t suppose you carry a set of lock-picks in that jacket of yours?” Connor wondered.

James looked at him and cut his eyes in a ‘seriously, bro’ look before he pulled his night vision goggles down to cover them.

“I’m a vampire hunter, not a master-thief. Just kick the fucking door down.”

Connor shrugged as he lowered his own goggles.

“Not very stealthy though is it.” He complained.

“Fuck stealth.” James replied, “Let them hear us. If they think the attack’s coming from the back then they might be taken by surprise when the others come in from the front and above as well. They’ll be wrong footed. Taken unawares.”

“Yeah, yeah! I get the fucking point!” Connor retorted. “You can do the kicking, mind. Your boots are bigger than mine.”

“I’ll give you fucking big boots!” James muttered as he raised his foot to kick… and then they heard the singing.

James was paused in mid-kick.

“What the fuck is that?”

It was the most beautiful song that either of them had heard. Not unlike some of the traditional Irish folk ballads that Connor sometimes enjoyed listening to back at the bars in Ireland, only there was no music, no accompanying pipes or violins or even drums. Just the haunting ethereal vocals of a woman’s voice drifting towards them like sighs on the wind. They couldn’t discern any lyrics. If there were any then they were in a language that neither of them was familiar with. All they knew was it was the most beautiful sound they had ever heard, and it was coming from behind them.

Connor and James turned around and started to follow the direction from where the singing was coming.

“Over there!” Connor pointed.

James followed where Connor indicated, and his jaw dropped open at what he saw.

There was a naked woman half submerged in the swimming pool. The part of her that could be seen looked pale and perfect, even through the green-tinted hue of the night-vision goggles, her breasts seemed to rest on top of the water’s surface as if they had been purposefully displayed there to be seen and enjoyed.

Connor had already lifted his goggles from his eyes so that he could look at her properly without the green tint.

“Have you ever seen anything like it?” Connor gasped, totally in awe… and then he saw the fish tail rise out of the water, swaying back and forth behind the woman, like a cobra. “Did you see that? She’s a fucking mermaid!”

Maria smiled at the reactions of the two men before her, enraptured by her voice and her body, just as she had predicted. Neither of them had thought to raise the weapons that hung, almost forgotten, at their sides. It was time to reel them in.

Connor and James watched, mesmerised, as the mermaid swam to the side of the pool and lifted herself out. She looked like an X-rated version of Disney’s Ariel as she eased her fish-like tail out of the water, her breasts still thrust out in front of her, deliberately human and unscaled to appeal to the aesthetics of the men before her. Then she completed her transformation to the rest of her, allowing her tail to become long, smooth legs that met at the top where the inviting hairless triangle of her sex lay.

Connor was starting to drool now as the now humanoid mermaid slowly rose to her feet in front of them, all whilst continuing to sing her haunting melody.

Maria held out both her hands and beckoned the two men towards her.

Slowly, helplessly, James and Connor began to walk towards the mermaid like silent zombies.

“That’s it…” Maria sang, keeping the enchanting melody in her voice, “Come to me. All of your troubles will end in my embrace.” She opened her arms to accept them as they drew nearer.

In that moment when Maria thought that she had the two men under control, something that she hadn’t quite anticipated occurred.

There was a sudden blur of movement and something hard and metallic connected with Maria’s face and almost sent her flying back into the pool. As it was she was left sprawled, stunned, upon the floor with blood pouring from her split lip.

James stood over her. In his right hand he still held the Magnum containing his six silver bullets, this is what he had just hit Maria with, but in his left, he now held a Berretta handgun and it was pointed down at the stricken mermaid’s head.

“Nice try, darlin’.” He drawled, “You got Connor nice and good, but unfortunately for you, I don’t exactly bat for the same team he does, so all this…” he gestured with the barrel of his Berretta at her prone naked body, “…is kinda wasted on me, I’m afraid. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I don’t wanna waste one of my silver bullets on you, so I’ll just give you a quick plug with this one and be on my way.”

James’ finger tightened on the trigger of the Berretta… and he promptly collapsed to the floor in an unconscious heap.

Veronique was stood behind him in her ninja get-up, her bamboo sword held before her in both hands.

“Less talking and more shooting I would advise, my friend.” She smiled, and then she whacked Connor over the head too for good measure. He was just starting to come out of his trance, but soon joined James on the floor.

Veronique put away her bamboo sword and then stooped to help Maria to her feet.

“Are you alright, my dear?” she asked.

Maria swayed slightly and winced as she touched the bleeding cut on her swollen lip gingerly.

“I’ll live.” She replied. “Thanks for the save. I hadn’t counted on one of them being gay.”

“It’s a good thing I was here.” Veronique agreed. “Come along. Let’s get these two secured and then we’ll wait and see how the others get on.”


	28. Twenty-Eight

Michelle and Wesley were still on the balcony and had yet to gain entry to the mansion when the singing had started below. Wesley had been trying to break the glass of the French windows with the butt of his Magnum, but even with all his strength behind the blow the glass refused even to crack.

“Can you believe this shit?” he complained to his wife, “I actually think that this could be bullet proof glass!”

“Look at this place.” Michelle swept her arm back over the balcony in a gesture that encompassed the house and the grounds it stood in. “I think it’s safe to say that she can definitely afford it.”

“You’re right.” Wesley agreed, “We shoulda been prepared for something like this… What the fuck is that?” his eyes had suddenly gone wide as Maria’s sultry voice lilted up from somewhere below.

Michelle looked at her husband, suddenly afraid, she had never seen such a blank and empty expression in his eyes before; they were usually so soulful and full of warmth and life. Then things went from bad to worse when Wesley turned away from the windows and started to walk slowly towards the edge of the balcony. For a moment all Michelle could do was stare in disbelief at her husband, but then she realised that he wasn’t going to stop. If she didn’t do something quickly he was going to hurl himself over the balcony.

Michelle acted quickly. In the nick of time she managed to supplant herself between her entranced husband and the safety barrier that was intended to keep people from falling over the edge. It would, however, be totally useless at preventing someone from climbing over it and jumping if that was what they wanted to do. Michelle and Wesley had both taken taekwondo classes together when they had first gotten into the vampire hunting business, though her husband outweighed her by several pounds, she was confident that she could overpower him if she needed to, but she would only resort to that if it was absolutely necessary. She placed both of her hands on his muscular chest, but he kept on coming, pushing her back until she was leaning dangerously against the barrier.

“Come on, Wesley!” she shouted desperately, “Snap out of it! This isn’t like you!”

Michelle continued to push back against him, but it was like trying to push a wall. The singing continued to drift up from below. It had to be what was causing her husband’s trance and odd behaviour. What were Connor and James doing down there? Couldn’t they stop it? Unless they were affected too. Michelle realised that it was up to her to save her husband by any means necessary.

“I can’t lose you too!” she cried. With a final determined push, Michelle managed to find some purchase on the floor with her feet. Keeping her right foot planted against the barrier she used her left to trip her husband backwards. He went down, just as she had planned, and she held onto the front of his shirt in both hands to try and slow his descent so that he wouldn’t hit too hard when he landed. Once he was down Michelle sat on him, hoping to keep him pinned. She’d sit on him all night if she had to. This was that lunatic Janet’s fight and she was not about to lose her husband because of it.

Then, just as suddenly as it had started the singing ceased. Michelle breathed a sigh of relief and looked down at Wesley. He had stopped struggling.

“Baby are you okay?” Michelle asked hopefully.

Slowly some semblance of the warmth that she was accustomed to was returning to her husband’s eyes and then a glimmer of recognition as he saw her, and he smiled.

“Hey baby!” he drawled as if waking from a deep sleep, “Why’re you sittin’ on me?”

Michelle just laughed and lowered her face to his, kissing him fiercely and running her fingers through the cornrows of his hair.

“Come on, you sexy son of a bitch.” She said as she got off him and pulled him to his feet. “We still need to find a way to get through these windows.”

Wesley reluctantly allowed himself to be pulled up, he’d rather enjoyed having his wife straddling him and wouldn’t have minded staying down there for a bit. With a little effort he brought his mind back to the task at hand.

“Good thing I brought the lock-picks with me.” He said as he stepped back up to the French windows. “No self-respecting vampire hunter should ever leave home without them.”

Wesley selected the appropriate key from the ring that he had produced from the pocket of his jeans and used it to unlock the windows. He pushed the glass portal open and graciously stood aside to allow his wife to enter.

Michelle pulled on her night-vision goggles before going in and Wesley didn’t forget to do the same as he followed, Magnum held up before him in both hands, like he’d seen done in every cop show he’d ever watched.

The couple found themselves in a bedroom that looked suitably lived in. There was a double four-poster bed against one wall, the sheets of which were strewn in such a way to suggest that someone had recently been sleeping in it.

“That’s not good.” Michelle observed, “If they’re up and about then perhaps they know we’re coming?”

“Or maybe they just got up for a snack?” Wesley suggested in a low voice that was only just above a whisper.

“Either way we could run into them coming up on our way down.” Michelle replied.

The only other thing that stood out about the room was the gorgeous nude portrait of two women that hung on one wall. Wesley paused to admire the aesthetics of the picture; it depicted a light-haired woman sitting behind a darker haired woman, her arms draped around the one in front so that they strategically covered the modest breasts of the darker girl. The light girl was looking down lovingly into the eyes of the dark girl who looked back with that same love reflected in her own gaze. Both were smiling. Even through the green tint of his goggles Wesley could tell that they were both quite pale and the darker haired girl had a couple of healed scars that encompassed the circumference of her upper right arm and lower left wrist. It looked almost as if they were there from the limbs having been reattached after having come off somehow. They did not, however, in any way detract from the girl’s unique beauty.

“If you’ve quite finished staring at the naked ladies.” Michelle announced with an amused smirk.

Wesley grinned and turned to look at her. “Check this out.” He said pointing out the signature in the bottom right corner of the painting.

“Veronique.” Michelle read aloud. “Looks like our vampire is a cultured monster.”

Wesley was suddenly serious.

“Do you think there’s such a thing as a ‘good’ vampire?” he asked.

“If there is then I’ve yet to meet one.” Michelle answered simply.

“But we kill vampires, baby.” He said, “We attack them. We don’t engage them in conversation. We just shoot first and never ask any questions. The vampires always fight back, but… we _are_ trying to kill them. Can we be sure that all of the vampires that we’ve killed have deserved to die?”

“The one that took our little girl away from us definitely did.” Michelle replied venomously.

“You won’t hear any arguments from me on that one, baby… but have all the other vampires after him… have they all deserved it?”

“If they didn’t then why are we here?” Michelle asked, “Janet already killed the gorgon that took her husband. The one we’re hunting now is its daughter… it… _she_ was only a baby when Janet’s husband died. Does she deserve to be killed for something she had no part in?”

“You know the answer to that already.” Wesley countered, “By Janet’s own admission this young gorgon has been living in hiding for the last eighteen years. She hasn’t killed anybody… she hasn’t shown any signs of _wanting_ to kill anybody.”

“So, _why_ are we here?” Michelle repeated. “Are you saying that you think we should just go? Get out of here?”

“We’ve come this far.” Wesley answered. “Cultured or not, there’s a vampire here and killing them is what we do.”

“And if she _is_ a ‘good’ vampire?” Michelle wondered as they left the bedroom.

Wesley had no answer.

Outside of the bedroom was a hallway that lead off in two directions, to the left and right. In each direction there were two other doors, presumably to other bedrooms, and then each corridor turned off either to the left or right, leading somewhere unseen, deeper into the bowels of the house.

Wesley and Michelle stood back to back, their Magnums pointing down the empty corridors. There was no sign of anybody, no life whatsoever.

“Which way do we go?” Michelle wondered.

“I don’t know,” Wesley admitted, “but I do know that we ain’t splittin’ up.”

“I second…” Michelle began, “Wait, do you feel that?”

“Feel what, baby?” but then Wesley paused.

Beneath their feet it felt as if the carpet were moving and undulating… as though it were alive somehow.

Wesley turned slowly to look at his wife, but as he did so he felt his foot come down on something which made a squealing and cracking sound under the weight of his boot. His eyes widened in horror at the thought of what this could be, but the gesture was lost beneath the goggles. Even so, Michelle could tell something was amiss by the look of the grimace that creased the lower half of his handsome features.

“What is it, Wes?” she asked though she was afraid to know the answer.

Wesley just shook his head and indicated that they should look down together with a barely perceptible nod. The movement at their feet was unceasing as numerous unseen somethings writhed around them.

On some unspoken signal Wesley and Michelle both looked down at the same time… and saw that the floor around them, as far as they could see, was crawling with a dark sea of rats.

Michelle immediately began to tremble with a sense of panic that she had never ever felt before in her life.

“Oh my God, oh my God, oh my God!” she breathed, “Where did they all come from?”

And then she screamed as she felt one of them climbing up her right leg. She tried to bat it off with the butt of the Magnum, but the creature twisted to one side and jumped onto her arm… the one that held the gun.

Michelle screamed again… this time in pain and the Magnum toppled from her fingers to be swallowed up by the swamp of rats below… “It bit me!” she exclaimed, her fear and panic rising, blood pouring freely from the nasty gash in her wrist.

Wesley, in the meantime, was stamping into the squirming hoard… almost every time he brought down the heel of his boot he felt a warped sense of satisfaction when he heard the crunch of a brittle body being broken, accompanied by a dying shriek. But then he chanced another look down; watched as one of the twisted, trampled vermin that he had just crushed underfoot roll back onto its feet and continue to scurry along with its brethren as if nothing untoward had happened to it.

“What the fuck?” he stammered, taking a few involuntary steps backwards… but as he did so his feet continued to tread upon the writhing mass that covered the floor and with a look of horrified realisation he felt himself lose his footing and begin to fall back into the waiting swarm.

Michelle reached out her bleeding hand to her husband and grabbed his in an effort to stop his fall and pull him back to his feet, but Wesley outweighed her by a considerable amount and instead of pulling him up, he inadvertently pulled _her_ down with him.

As they hit the floor in a sprawling, tangled heap the sea of rats began to scramble all over them until they disappeared completely beneath the black swarm.

Both husband and wife screamed alike as they felt hundreds of scratching claws upon them, but then Wesley clamped his mouth shut, serving to muffle his screams, after he felt the tail of one rat scraping against the surface of his tongue. Neither could move under the weight of the mound of squirming, scratching and biting monsters that had so overwhelmed them that they feared that they would ultimately be suffocated.

But fortunately, this was not to be as, just as suddenly as they had swarmed, the rats began to flow away from them, leaving them lying, holding onto each other for comfort as they continued to tremble from what they had endured. Somehow, Wesley had lost his gun after hitting the floor, but as he slowly, shaking, turned his head to look up from where he lay he found himself staring up into its yawning barrel.

The light-haired woman, whom he recognised from the painting, was standing over them, her dark-haired partner at her side casually pointing Michelle’s Magnum in their general direction. A particularly large specimen of rat, with only one eye and missing half of its left ear, was perched on the first woman’s shoulder and nuzzling her cheek affectionately.

“Good boy, Dmitri.” Natasha crooned at the rat with a sweet smile, though she did not take her eyes off the two defeated and demoralised hunters at her feet. The rest of the rats were swarmed in a circle around them.

Zoe looked down at their prisoners and chuckled.

“Well, if they didn’t have a phobia of rats before, they’ve certainly got one now.”


	29. Twenty-Nine

And then there were two. Janet and Linda had also heard the singing as they made their way around to the front of the mansion, though it was fainter, for them, the further they got away from the back of the house.

“What the Hell is that?” Janet had wondered out loud.

“Don’t know, don’t care.” Linda had answered bluntly, “Whatever it is it’s the boys’ problem now. I’m sure they can handle it.”

When they got to the front door Linda produced her own set of lock-picks to help them gain entry. As the lock clicked open the faint singing from the rear of the mansion ended as abruptly as it had started.

Linda smiled coldly and looked at Janet.

“Told you they could handle it.”

Before pushing open the front door both women pulled on their night-vision goggles, then, with a nod to each other, they went in, guns pointed.

The hallway was just as they remembered it from their first visit, only darker. This time there were no naked redheads sauntering down the stairway, in fact at first glance the entrance hall appeared to be empty.

Then Janet spotted the serpent covered head of her hated enemy peering from around the corner of the corridor that led to the kitchen and the secret lift to the basement. The foolish creature was wearing its sunglasses, no doubt to protect its allies from its gaze. Without hesitation Janet drew a bead on that abhorrent face and opened fire, but the creature drew its head back around the corner and the bullet buried itself in the wall behind.

“Are you the one that killed my mom and dad?” the creature’s voice came from behind the wall. It sounded weak and small and frightened, but there was also an undertone of anger.

“Your mother killed my husband.” Janet replied coldly. “We were on our honeymoon. We were going to start a family, but she took all that away from us when she killed him.”

“My dad told me it was an accident, that your husband was just in the wrong place at the wrong time.” Maddy answered. “Look, I’m sorry… maybe I can understand why you’d want to kill my mother, but why kill my daddy? He didn’t do anything to you!” the undertone of anger crept up several octaves. “ _I’ve_ never done anything to you. We don’t _need_ to do this!”

“You represent everything that my husband and I could have had if he hadn’t been taken away from me!” Janet spat angrily. “When I came to kill your mother and I saw you, as a baby, in her arms… everything that Michael and I could never have… and she had it. I knew I had to destroy it. Destroy you. This doesn’t end until your head is mine!”

All the while that Janet and Maddy had been talking Linda had been edging her way around the hallway. She was now in a position where she could see the gorgon and quite easily take her out, the creature didn’t even seem to be aware that its cover had been compromised, but Linda remembered Janet’s desire to personally destroy the monster.

“I have a shot.” She declared, “Shall I take it?”

Janet stole a glance towards her partner.

“Just maim the beast so I can finish it off.” She answered.

Behind her cover Maddy turned her head and noted, too late, Linda’s gun pointed at her from across the hallway.

Linda lowered her aim so that she could shoot the gorgon in the leg instead of the head and her finger tightened on the trigger… when something slammed into her from behind and knocked her to the floor, sending the Magnum spinning from her grasp.

Janet now had her gun pointed at the brawling mass of arms and legs that lay in the centre of the hallway; Linda was struggling with the bald black lady from earlier, who for some reason was completely naked, then Janet remembered that this was the werewolf. Perhaps she preferred to transform without clothes so that they wouldn’t get ripped in the process? But then why wasn’t she transformed now? Janet wasn’t sure if she should try and help Linda or just finish the gorgon while she had the chance. Her gun wavered towards the struggling pair, but she couldn’t get a clear shot of the werewolf.

Then Janet saw a familiar metallic round object appear in Linda’s hand. Somehow, she managed to pull the pin of the grenade with her thumb and mere seconds later the sphere began to emit billowing acrid smoke from the hole that the pin had previously plugged. Linda thrust the smoking grenade into Wanda’s face causing the werewolf to retch and cough violently. Very soon both Linda and Wanda were completely hidden amongst the gaseous cloud and all that could be heard was the sounds of continued fighting and Wanda’s tortured coughing.

“Wanda!” Maddy cried desperately.

“Maddy…” Wanda managed to cough, “Get out of here… get… to the basement!”

At this Janet turned her attention away from the obscured battle and began to run towards Maddy’s hiding spot. By the time she got there Maddy had already disappeared around another corner, but fortunately Janet knew exactly where she was headed.

She began to walk quickly and purposefully after her prey.

 

Maddy ran as fast as she could for the lift that would take her to the basement, temporarily blinded by the tears in her eyes. Gods she hoped Wanda would be okay. She couldn’t bare to lose anyone else… she would sooner give up her own life. For fleeting seconds she wondered whether she _should_ just stop running and let the hunter catch up to her. If she allowed herself to be killed would her friends be spared?

Maddy shook her head and cuffed away the tears that ran down her face. She couldn’t just give up now. All of her new friends were fighting so hard to keep her alive. There was no way that she could let any of that go in vain. If she could keep herself alive for them… for Wanda… then she would.

Finally, she reached the lift and pressed the button. The metal doors whooshed open, the lift ready and waiting just as they had planned. Maddy rushed inside and stabbed the ‘down’ button with her finger.

Slowly the doors began to close.

 

Janet rounded the corner and saw the elevator doors sliding shut. She raised her gun to try and get a shot off before they closed completely, but quickly lowered it again as she realised that the attempt would be futile and a waste of bullets. Instead she made her way to the lift and pressed the button to summon it. She would wait for it to come back up and then she would go down and finish her enemy once and for all.

As she waited she wondered what might be waiting for her down there.

Would she have to face the vampire? Or would the gorgon be alone? Helpless and trapped.

Janet hoped, with a cruel smile, that it would be the latter.

She wasn’t carrying one of the four crossbows that had been available, but instead had opted for one of the machetes. If the vampire was down there then she would slow it down with the bullets before cutting off its head. And, now that she was thinking about it, she realised that was how she wanted to kill the gorgon too. She would behead the foul offspring of her husband’s murderer, just as Perseus had done with the original Medusa.

The lift finally returned, and the doors slid open.

Janet stepped inside and drew the machete from the sheath at her back. She pressed the button to descend.

As the doors slid closed on her she was still smiling at the thought of all the fun she was planning to have.

 

Maddy had dashed out of the lift the second that the doors had opened. She ran all the way down the subterranean corridor, passed Veronique’s bedroom, which was locked anyway, and straight into the waiting laboratory. Once inside she quickly tried to lose herself in the labyrinth of work benches and scientific equipment. As soon as Maddy felt that she had ventured far enough into the lab she turned to face the only entrance.

Her breathing was coming in ragged gasps from all the running, years of takeaway pizzas would do that to you, but at least she’d stopped crying. Struggling to control her breaths, Maddy tried to listen for the sounds of pursuit, and sure enough she soon heard measured, unhurried footsteps making their way towards the lab.

Maddy ducked down behind the bench she was standing by and waited.

Moments later she heard the lab doors swing open and shut as someone, presumably the mad lady that wanted to kill her, entered.

The footsteps continued to echo around the room as Maddy’s pursuer began to walk among the benches.

“I know you’re in here somewhere.” Janet called. She had put away the Magnum and now just held the machete in one hand, the naked blade resting upon her shoulder as she searched for her prey. “You can’t hide from me forever!”

Maddy began to crawl on all fours between the benches. It was difficult to ascertain exactly which direction the mad lady was walking in, so Maddy prayed as she crawled that she wouldn’t bump into her. If the lady was to find her now, then Maddy would be pretty helpless to do anything about it and she certainly didn’t want to give that bitch the satisfaction of dying on her knees. That thought almost made Maddy stand up there and then, but she knew she’d be a sitting duck if she did that. No, she’d just have to hope and pray that she could remain undetected as long as possible; at least until she could think of a way to defend herself.

Wanda had taken her on a tour of the mansion’s defences earlier, but most of those were upstairs. Veronique was already the most dangerous thing in the basement on most occasions, when she was down here, and there was no sunlight to weaken her, so Wanda had said that there was no real need to have any extra defences down there.

Maddy had decided that she would try and reach the exit, undetected, and run back to the lift. Hopefully it would already be down, and she could use it to go back upstairs to Wanda and the others. With this plan in mind Maddy began to crawl in the general direction of the doors she had entered by, but it was a difficult route to traverse on her hands and knees; the footsteps of her would-be-murderer were getting inexorably closer and were soon joined by a new sound, a metallic tap-tap-tapping as the crazy lady brought something down, again and again on the metal work surfaces.

TAP!

TAP!

TAP!

Maddy was maybe halfway to the exit when she spotted the legs and feet of her pursuer over by the workbench opposite to where she was currently crouched. An exclamation of “There you are!” told Maddy that she’d been spotted.

She quickly scrambled back onto her feet and began to run the rest of the way to the doors. As she went, Maddy grabbed beakers and test tubes from the benches she passed and flung them at her assailant. She had briefly noted that the lady had swapped her gun for a huge knife, that looked almost big enough to qualify as a small sword. This was clearly what had been making that infernal tapping noise. Maddy was relieved that she didn’t have to worry about being shot in the back as she fled, however, she didn’t relish the idea of being hacked to pieces if the crazy lady caught her.

Janet easily dodged the clumsy missiles thrown at her as she pursued the gorgon, continuing her menacing tap-tap-tapping of the machete’s blade as she went.

TAP!

TAP!

TAP!

Booted feet crunched through the broken glass of the beakers and tubes and Janet smiled as she watched Maddy finally reach the doors and run out of them.

Maddy sprinted as fast as she could back down the corridor towards the sanctuary that the lift would offer. Mere moments later she heard the lab doors burst open behind her and the, now running, footsteps of the crazy lady’s relentless pursuit.

Maddy screamed involuntarily and somehow managed to put on an extra burst of speed. She reached the lift and jabbed the call button repeatedly.

It wasn’t waiting for her. Someone had called it up and now she’d have to wait for it to come down. By that time the crazy lady would have caught her, and she’d be… Maddy heard a warning hiss from her snakes, who could obviously see things behind her that she couldn’t, and then there was the whoosh of a knife being swung and Maddy ducked just in time to avoid a blow to her neck that would probably have killed her. Instead the blade clanged harmlessly off of the metallic lift doors.

Maddy turned to face her attacker and was met with a punch to the face for her trouble that sent her sunglasses spiralling to the floor, which caused one of the lenses to crack on impact. The blow also busted Maddy’s nose and blood spurted out to stain the front of her T-shirt.

“You bitch!” Maddy cried and she launched herself, head down, into the crazy lady’s stomach, managing to knock the wind out of her and bring her crashing to the floor on her back.

Somehow Janet managed to retain her grip on the machete and with her free hand she grabbed Maddy by the throat and pulled her in closer, looking her in the eyes, confident that her goggles would protect her.

Maddy began to choke and batted at Janet’s arm in an effort to loosen her death-grip.

“I’m going to enjoy cutting your head off, you snake-haired bitch!” Janet hissed.

And then Janet let out a scream of pain as multiple serpentine fangs sank into her hand and arm, causing her to release Maddy, who fell off her sideways, gasping for air.

Both stricken women scrambled away from each other.

“They bit me!” Janet screeched. “Are they poisonous? Am I going to die?”

“You’ll never know if you kill me.” Maddy managed to say, despite her bruised larynx. “If they are poisonous then I’m the only one that knows the antidote.”

Maddy knew full well that the bite of her snakes was _not_ venomous or deadly in anyway, but she was hoping the bluff would give the crazy lady cause to pause from trying to kill her.

“Not a chance!” Janet shrieked, blood continued to pour from the puncture wounds on her hand and arm. “If I’m going to die then I’m taking you with me!”

Maddy sighed and turned to spit blood out onto the floor, that had poured into her mouth from her nose.

“Knew you were gonna say that.” She groaned.

Both women struggled to get up, aching and bleeding from their various injuries.

Once again, Janet struggled to swing the machete, one-handed, for a killing blow, but Maddy was able to sidestep it easily and stuck her foot out, tripping Janet up and sending her to her hands and knees.

Maddy got behind her and literally kicked Janet’s ass so that she sprawled face first onto the floor, and this time the machete clattered from her fingers. Then Maddy bent over and grabbed Janet by the shoulders, forcibly turning her around so that they were facing each other once more. The night-goggles had been smashed slightly by the impact of Janet’s head connecting with the floor, but Maddy grabbed them anyway and ripped them away, flinging them to one side.

“No, No, No!!!” Janet screamed and screwed her eyes shut so that she couldn’t look into Maddy’s.

Maddy, holding Janet up by the scruff of her shirt with one hand, slapped Janet’s face with her other hand.

“OPEN!”

SLAP!

“YOUR!”

SLAP!

“DAMN!”

SLAP!

“EYES!”

SLAP!

“BITCH!!!”

The final slap was hard enough to jar Janet’s eyes wide open and for just a split second she was held in Maddy’s piercing amber gaze and she screamed.

And nothing happened.

As soon as Janet realised that she wasn’t about to turn into stone she burst into tears, crying with hysterical relief.

Maddy smiled grimly and balled her free hand into a fist.

“Contact lenses, bitch.” And then she punched Janet in the face and let her fall back onto the floor.

Maddy turned her back on Janet… and so she didn’t see when the crazy lady pulled out a small handgun and pointed it at her.

PING!

The lift finally arrived, and the doors slid open.

Maddy spun round just in time to see a familiar chocolate brown wolf leap out onto Janet, knocking the gun away before she could pull the trigger. The wolf seized Janet’s throat in its slathering jaws and with a brutal twist of its head, tore it out in a crimson spray that splashed Maddy and mingled with her own blood.

Maddy stood there in shock as she watched the life leaving Janet one crazy spurt of blood at a time until it seemed that the floor and the surrounding walls were coated in the crimson fluid.

When she looked again at the wolf it had been replaced by Wanda, crouched naked and beautiful, but now also covered from head to foot in the blood of her victim. Wanda looked up at Maddy, still panting from the exertion of her transformation and the exhilaration of the kill. Her eyes were burning amber and still looked more wolf-like than human.

“Are you alright, my little Maddy?”

And in that moment when Wanda spoke, Maddy fancied that she saw a scrap of flesh stuck between her beloved Wanda’s teeth.

Maddy shook her head, still shaking from the shock of what she had just witnessed. And then she turned to one side and vomited.


	30. Thirty

A short while later Maddy found herself in the same room where her father’s memorial service had been held, only this time it was being used to hold all of the rounded-up hunters from the thwarted attempt on her life. There were three men and one woman altogether. All had been restrained by having their hands secured behind their backs by cable ties, which, Maddy had learned, Zoe normally used to tie-up all her bloodied meat in little baggies before she put them in the freezer. This grisly image inadvertently made Maddy’s mind flash back to the sight of Wanda, naked and caked in fresh gore, a scrap of human flesh stuck between her teeth as she smiled at Maddy serenely, as if there was nothing wrong. Only in Maddy’s imagination the scrap of flesh became exaggerated and what she actually saw was Wanda squatting on all fours like a dog, holding Janet’s windpipe in her mouth like a bloody trophy whilst wagging a bushy brown wolf’s tail behind her. The image would have been absurd if it were not so horrific and Maddy forcibly shook her head to try and eradicate the unwanted visual from her mind’s eye.

The four prisoners were on their knees and Natasha, Zoe and Maria stood guard over them, holding guns which Maddy assumed had been confiscated from the would-be killers.

Wanda was not present. She was busy cleaning up herself and the two dead bodies that she had created. Maddy had learned afterwards that Wanda had been forced to snap the Asian woman’s neck to end their fight in the smoke, after she had fled. At least that was a lot cleaner than ripping someone’s throat out with your teeth. Again, the image swam back into Maddy’s subconscious and she had to screw her eyes tightly shut this time in her effort to banish it. After Maddy had finished being sick, Wanda had sent her off on her own. Aside from that, they’d barely spoken two words to each other. Whatever needed to be said would have to wait until later. Maddy had ridden up in the lift and gone straight to the kitchen to wash off her bloodied face in the sink and drink some water to get rid of the taste of bile in her mouth.

Maria and Veronique had entered the kitchen then through the back door with their prisoners. On seeing Maddy’s injured nose Veronique had rushed off immediately to get a nose brace and had reset the broken bone there and then in the kitchen. Man, that had hurt like a son of a bitch and Maddy winced at the memory, though she found this recollection preferable to the other one.

The curtains in the holding room had been drawn to keep out the sunlight. The sun had risen a short while after Veronique had finished setting Maddy’s nose. Now the only light in the room came from the elaborate crystal chandelier that dominated the ceiling.

Veronique entered the room, now changed out of her ‘ninja’ get-up and wearing her usual laboratory attire. She stood before the four subdued hunters and prepared to address them with her ultimatum.

All four looked at the vampire wearily, clearly all wondering why they hadn’t been killed yet like Janet and Linda.

“You needn’t all look so worried.” Veronique began, attempting to smile genially, but the subtle hint of fang that showed served only to unnerve them further. “If we were planning to kill you then I can assure you that you would already be dead.”

“Like Janet and Linda?” James snarled angrily.

Veronique frowned.

“Yes, I’m sorry about those two.” She said sincerely, “Their deaths were regrettable, but, sadly, also unavoidable.”

“Bullshit!” James again, “You managed to take us down without killing us!”

“Yes, well, that’s because you two were taken out by Maria’s Siren Song and my kendo skills respectively, and these two were overwhelmed by Natasha and Zoe’s pet zombie rats.” Veronique replied, indicating each pair in turn as she spoke of them. “I’m afraid it fell to Wanda to defend Maddy from your other two friends, and Wanda did not possess those means at her disposal. Given that Maddy was the intended target of this attack I trust that Wanda used whatever means that she felt were necessary to defend our young gorgon friend. It is just unfortunate that those means proved to be fatal.”

“Unfortunate, yeah!” James rumbled sarcastically.

Maddy listened to Veronique’s reasoning to the hunters and felt that the vampire’s words may have been intended for her ears too. Whatever Wanda had done had been either in self-defence or in defence of Maddy’s own life when it had been endangered. Did she have a right to feel repulsed by actions that were carried out on her behalf? If Wanda had not come along when she did then Janet would most certainly have shot Maddy in the back and she would be dead.

Maddy was grateful to be alive, but to see someone killed so savagely right before her eyes… that would rattle anyone, right?

Veronique continued to talk to the captive hunters.

“I am aware that it is one of the dead women that was responsible for bringing you all together in this attack, to help her fulfil her vendetta against poor young Maddy. Now that she is dead, I trust that none of you have any grievances that you harbour against our friend?” she asked.

“We came to kill a vampire.” Wesley said quietly, his eyes still looked haunted from the ordeal with the zombie rats. “We could care less about the snake-haired girl, but when it comes to vampires, we all here have our various reasons for not wanting _you_ to continue existing.”

Veronique pressed her hands to her chest and looked at each of the four hunters in turn with an incredulous look.

“Have I, personally, wronged any of you in anyway?” she asked.

“Well, no… but…” Wesley began.

“Then why would you want to kill me, just for existing?” she continued. “If you can give me your word that you will leave in peace and never return here, I will not kill you. Do you think that is something that you can agree to?”

“Let’s say, for arguments sake, that we agree to go our separate ways.” Connor answered, “What’s to stop us from grabbing some of our mates and some more guns, then coming back to finish you all off?”

“Your word.” Veronique replied simply. “You are, I would imagine, supposedly a man of virtue that has taken it upon himself to fight the monsters of this world, and believe me, there are monsters out there less forgiving than I who would not even be entertaining such a discussion as we are having now. If you are indeed such a man then surely, I can rely on you to keep your word, can I not?”

Connor actually laughed.

“I’ve been called a lot of things in my life, love, but virtuous is definitely not one of them!” he chuckled. “You know, for a vampire I think I might actually like you. What are you doing for dinner tonight? Can vampires still eat dinner? I’ve never actually stopped to ask before!”

Veronique blushed.

“I’m afraid that I gave up on frivolous pursuits like dating many centuries ago.” She replied.

“That’s a shame.” Connor said with genuine regret. “For what it’s worth, love… you have _my_ word and I promise, scout’s honour, that I’ll keep it.”

Veronique nodded graciously.

“I believe you.”

She looked to the other three for their answer.

After a long period of silence it was Michelle that finally spoke up.

“Why are you letting us go?” she wondered, “After what happened to our daughter, Wes and I have dedicated our lives to hunting down and killing your kind without discrimination. We believed that we were helping rid the world of an evil that plagued humanity from the shadows, that you were all irredeemable monsters that deserved to be destroyed. You shouldn’t be showing us… mercy.”

Veronique shook her head sadly.

“It’s true to say that many of my kind are reprehensible monsters that have allowed themselves to become nothing more than decadent animals, seeking only pleasure and self-gratification at the expense of others. Even the one that made me was such a monster, and I’m ashamed to say that for the first one hundred years of my vampiric existence I was forced to endure such a life, until I ultimately rebelled against it.” She said bitterly, “Moderate, or even kind vampires, are a rare breed I’m afraid, but I’m proud to count myself as one of them. I seek only to find a way in which humans and monsters can co-exist together peacefully, without enmity. If I murdered you all now, what sort of message would that send? It would be counterproductive to everything I have ever worked to achieve. Will you help me build bridges? Spread the word to other hunters that not all monsters are deserving of destruction?”

There was another long silence, but Veronique sensed that her words were reaching them.

“What did you do?” Michelle asked at last, “How did you rebel against their way of life?”

Veronique smiled.

“That is a long story to tell, and perhaps if we become friends I shall one day tell it to you, but one of the things that I did was begin research into finding an alternative form of sustenance for vampires which would mean that we could survive without having to take blood forcibly from others. It took many long years, but I was eventually able to formulate a substance which I, personally, find preferable to blood. Unfortunately, I have not been able to convince any other vampires to partake of it, as yet, but we must all start somewhere, mustn’t we?”

“An alternative food source for vampires?” Michelle spoke softly, and tears were welling in her eyes. “If we had known something like that existed when our daughter was turned, maybe we wouldn’t have had to put her down.”

“We can’t think like that, baby. We can’t.” Wesley said. “We’ll only drive ourselves crazy with what ifs and thoughts of what could have been. The best we can hope now is to try and make sure that no other new vampires have to suffer the way that she did.”

Wesley looked at Veronique with his big brown eyes, glistening from unshed tears.

“If there is anything, anything at all, that my wife and I can do to help your cause then I want you to know that you can count on us.”

“Thank you.” Veronique said simply.

Now her gaze fell upon James, and soon the hunter realised that _everyone_ present in the room was looking only at him.

“Alright, alright! I’m in too.” He grumbled, “I promise I won’t come back and cause anymore trouble. Now can we cut all the kumbaya crap already and just get going?”

Veronique chuckled and with that sound all of the tension seemed to leak from the room like air escaping from a balloon.

“Cut them loose, Natasha. Our guests are free to leave whenever they please.”

As Natasha set about cutting all of the cable tie restraints, Maddy took it upon herself to go off and look for Wanda. Now that the danger was over the two of them definitely needed to talk.

Once they were all cut free the hunters took their leave from the room in single file.

Connor made sure that he was the last one out, passing by Veronique on his way and slipping her one of his business cards.

“Just in case you change your mind about dinner.” He smirked, and then he was gone.

Veronique stood there just holding the card, not looking at it, but, tellingly, she did not throw it away.


	31. Thirty-One

Wanda had still been busy cleaning up and so Maddy decided that the best place to wait for her would be in Wanda’s bedroom. Maddy sat on the bed at first as she waited, but quickly became bored. The boredom gave her time to dwell upon why she was there in Wanda’s room. On what she had come to talk about. About what she had seen Wanda do and how that made her feel. These thoughts brought with them the unwanted images of a naked and bloody Wanda, tainted by the gory aftermath of saving Maddy’s life. Saving Maddy’s life.

That was exactly what she had done. If Wanda had not acted quickly and decisively then _she_ would be dead. Maddy knew that she should feel grateful to be alive. She _did_ feel grateful. But that did not change the fact that she had witnessed a woman that she, in such a short space of time, had come to care about, even love, tear out another woman’s throat with her teeth. If Wanda had killed Janet in any other way, then Maddy felt that she probably wouldn’t be feeling quite so… was repulsed the right word?

Maddy shook her head. She couldn’t think of this right now. There had to be something she could distract herself with.

Then Maddy remembered Wanda’s wigs. The werewolf had told her that she could come in and try them on anytime that she liked.

Maddy got up from the bed and walked over to the closet that contained Wanda’s extensive collection of hair pieces. She opened it up and took out the first one that came to hand, a long platinum blonde number that made Maddy think of Halle Berry in the X-Men movies. This led to Maddy picturing Wanda and how she would look in the wig, which evolved into an image of Wanda dressed as Storm from the X-Men. Maddy smiled. This mental picture of Wanda was far preferable to the one that haunted her subconscious at the moment and Maddy clung to it with an almost obsessive desperation. However, despite her desperate efforts, this ideal image quickly turned to a waking nightmare… In Maddy’s mind blood began to seep from under the wig on Wanda’s head until it was running in rivulets down her face and body, the X-Men uniform had vanished, and Wanda was naked once more. In her vision, Wanda opened her mouth to smile at Maddy, but the teeth were large and elongated like those of a wolf… unnaturally huge as they protruded from her otherwise sensual lips. And then blood began to pour from the mouth too, mingling with the torrent that continued to drip from beneath the now saturated wig.

Maddy screamed and flung the wig back into the closet. She couldn’t be here. Had to get out! Get some air.

Maddy fled Wanda’s room, shaking her head, snakes writhing in anxiety. As she strode down the hallway towards the stairs she happened to look down and seemed to see for the first time the blood that still stained the front of her T-shirt. Some of it was hers, but some of it had also sprayed onto her from the arterial wound that Wanda had torn into Janet’s neck. Maddy suddenly couldn’t stand to be in this soiled garment and, as she walked, she almost violently tugged it off over her head, flinging it into the arms of a bemused Natasha as she passed her and Zoe on her way to the kitchen. Then, heedless of the fact that she now only wore a bra to cover her upper modesty, Maddy stormed out of the back door and into the vast gardens of Veronique’s estate. She didn’t stop her mad power walk until she came to the edge of the forest, where she sat down on a nearby protruding tree root and burst into tears with her head in her hands.

She sensed rather than saw that someone had sat down next to her; the heady aroma of fruit scented shower gel and shampoo invaded her nostrils and a quick glance through her fingers revealed that it was Wanda. She had somehow found time to wash herself and change into a pair of faded blue jeans and charcoal grey sleeveless tank top.

Wanda kept her distance and did not try to touch Maddy, though the gorgon could tell that she dearly wanted to.

 Maddy shivered involuntarily and cuffed the tears from her eyes with the back of her hand.

“Are you cold, my little Maddy?” Wanda asked, mindful of the fact that Maddy was wearing only a bra. “Is everything alright?” she added when she received no answer.

Maddy looked up, her amber eyes were hard and determined as she peered into Wanda’s.

“You tore that woman’s throat open with your teeth, right in front of me.” She accused.

“She would have killed you if I had not.” Wanda replied, her tone sounding a little hurt. “I was in my wolf form, I saw you in danger and I acted. My instinct was to protect you by any means necessary… I… I’m sorry that you had to see me that way, but… “ and here her voice broke, “… if I had to do it all over again… choose between saving your life, or… or protecting you from the reality of what I am… then I would do the same all over again… in a heartbeat.” Now Wanda was crying, tears marring her beautiful, dark features and Maddy instantly regretted her outburst.

Maddy sobbed loudly she wanted to throw herself into Wanda’s arms, but she couldn’t quite bring herself to close the small distance between them.

“I’m sorry, Wanda.” She wept, “You are the last person I would ever want to hurt…. It’s just… I’ve never seen anyone die like that in front of me before… It was terrifying. I can’t get the image of you, naked and covered in blood, with a piece of her flesh stuck between your teeth, out of my head. I want to, but I just can’t!”

“It is I who should be sorry, little Maddy.” Wanda soothed, her own tears still flowing freely. “I should have had more control. I should not have let you see me like that.”

“No, you’re right… if you hadn’t acted then I’d be dead.” Maddy shook her head. “You did what you had to. I just have to learn to deal… that’s all. And I will…” she looked up into Wanda’s eyes again, “… I promise. We’ll get passed this. Somehow. I just need some time. And some space. Please?”

Wanda managed a smile. The urge to throw her arms around Maddy and hold her close was a strong one, but with a supreme effort of will she was able to fight it.

“Whatever you need, my little Maddy. When you are ready I will still be here.” She said.

Maddy offered a sad and watery smile back and sniffed, which hurt like a son of a bitch, instantly regretting it.

Wanda got up and walked away back to the house, looking back over her shoulder once with the ghost of smile.

Maddy raised her hand and waved, watching the woman she loved disappear back into the house.

It would take a while, but she would get over this somehow. Wanda had been here for her from the moment that she had awoken in this crazy house with its misfit family of supernatural women. This was her home now and her future. Maddy very much wanted Wanda to be a big part of that future.

All she needed was time to heal.


End file.
